Penguin MI6 (POM Movie Update)
by auroraminamino
Summary: After a short series of mishaps in which Private is blamed he flees the zoo for some fresh air. Once at the docks he meets his Uncle Nigel who had gotten some time off & wanted to make a surprise visit. Upon hearing what happened he makes Private an offer to become an agent at Penguin MI6. Which he takes him up on, but Hans is back & out for revenge & its not only on Skipper.


_~After a short series of mishaps in which Private is blamed he flees the zoo for some fresh air. Once at the docks he meets his Uncle Nigel who had gotten some time off & wanted to make a surprise visit. Upon hearing what happened he makes Private an offer to become an agent at Penguin MI6. Which he takes him up on, but Hans is back & out for revenge & its not only on Skipper. ~_

**Penguin MI6**

**Secret Agent Private?!**

"Skipper, I have something that will make, your, DAY!" Kowalski cried, bursting out of the lab. He had his goggles strapped around his face to a point where it looked like the straps were digging in enough to hurt, but he didn't seem to notice. He had that excited-out-of-his-pants look he only got when he cracked something good.  
>"What is it, soldier? Another machine that will doom and kill us all?" Skipper retorted rolling his eyes and his fish around in his coffee.<br>"Erm . . . No. That was last week. I have something even BETTER!" The penguin cried happily. He shoved his options clipboard at Skipper who started surveying it. "This shows that Alice has a supply of fish hidden somewhere in the zoo as a safety backup if the machine ever stopped working. It's in the office, probably hidden amongst other papers. She'll be out tomorrow from 1400 to 1430, so we'll be able to slip in, grab the paper, have the chimps read it then put it back before she even notices!"  
>"Genius, Kowalski! Mark that down on our schedule."<br>"Yes, sir." Kowalski saluted and waddled back into his lab, the door slamming shut behind him.  
>Private had been watching TV and listening to the conversation intensely. "Skipper?" Private said "Didn't Alice install security cameras last week?"<br>"Not to worry, Young Private. We'll have the cameras taken out before we even get in." Skipper said and took a long relaxing sip of his coffee.  
>The next day, Skipper burst open their fish dish hatch. He jumped up after it soon followed by the rest of The Team. "Okay men, first things first: Get rid of the cameras." Everyone nodded and split up.<br>Rico belly slid up to a camera poll. He then hacked up a flamethrower and laughed maniacally.  
>"Rico! Eighty-six the flamethrower!" Skipper called.<br>"Aw!"  
>Private came up to his camera and shot up its pole, belly sliding upwards to get to the top. Once he did he gave it a swift hit from the back, the wires snapped in two. The camera lost its balance on the light post and fell forward, breaking into pieces when it hit the hard ground with a loud "CRASH"!<br>Kowalski scribbled on his options clipboard then ripped the page off. He stuck it in front of the camera lens. The picture was of a badly drawn penguin habitat, with four penguins laying on the hard concrete.

Skipper stealthily snaked up to his camera and pulled a single wire out of its under side. The camera was now disabled. He nodded then went back down.  
>All the penguins returned to Skipper when they were done, Rico quickly swallowing his flamethrower so Skipper couldn't see he had used it anyway. His camera was on the ground, burning in a fury of orange and red.<br>"Good job, Men." Skipper congratulated. "Now to get some fish." The team all dove around the corner in a line behind Skipper, all not being able to wait to get their wings on those tasty, tasty fish.  
>"Are they gone?" An eerie voice cackled. "Good. Now, to fix the cameras and make sure they're focused on the fish dish hatch!"<br>"Latter Formation time boys!" Skipper cried as they stood under the window to Alice's office. Everyone turned to Private, who seemed to be looking off behind him. "Earth to Private! You go on the bottom of the formation, remember soldier?" Skipper said, walking up to the Private and waving his wing in front of his face.  
>"Yes . . . Sorry, Skipper I just feel like something's following us . . . " Private mumbled, slowly turning around. He got a hard smack on the back by Skipper.<br>"Paranoia! Finally, your taking after me! Put on the ole' cap, but be paranoid later. Right now, we need some fish and I don't think Rico can wait."  
>Rico smiled crazily, his wings and his head twitching at an insane speed. He murmured over and over again: "Fish! . . . Fish! . . . Fish! . . . "<br>"Urm . . . Yes, Sir." Private said, a little creep-ed out by Ricos appearance. He stood under the window and Kowalski jumped onto his shoulders. Then Rico, then Skipper.  
>"It's on the windowsill! What luck!" Skipper called down to them. He went to grab it, but it was to far. He made another grab for it, but missed.<br>Meanwhile Private was standing on the bottom, looking up. He didn't notice the plate flying at his feet until the pain erupted in him. "AHH!" He screamed It felt like a piece of glass lodged into his foot. He fell over, breaking the formation. Everyone went tumbling down on top of him.  
>"Private, explain!" Skipper said angrily, dusting himself off after the rough fall.<p>

"Ow!" Private said, holding his foot.  
>"Are you hurt?" Kowalski asked with a touch of worry on his face.<br>"Something smashed into my foot. I think it got lodged in, sorry, but I couldn't stand on the foot. I had to break the formation."  
>"Let me see your foot."<br>Private squeezed his eyes tight and let go of his foot. He didn't want to see the blood and bone or whatever else his wounded foot had. He heard the men gasping and squeaked out: ''Is it bad?''  
>"There's nothing there, soldier." said Skipper<br>Private gasped and looked at his foot. Skipper was right, it was normal if still hurting a bit. Perfectly normal. Then what was the pain he had felt? What was the thing he felt lodge in his foot? "How? . . . I swear, there was something there!"  
>Skipper, meanwhile looked annoyed: "Private, we don't put missions in jeopardy like that."<br>"I swear, it happened!"

Suddenly, they could hear Alice enter the room. "Yes, I know." She sounded as if she was on a walkie talkie.  
>"And now there's no mission to complete." Skipper sighed rubbing his forehead with his wing.<br>"Aw. No fish!" Rico rasped angrily shooting Private a look.  
>Private couldn't believe his ear holes! He knew there was something there, there had to be. He wouldn't have felt a mind splitting pain for nothing. Now, he just had to find out what happened. Skipper shot Private an annoyed look before giving the order to return to base, clueless that the cameras had been tampered with. He was grumbling the whole way, as was his and Ricos stomachs. Said demolitions expert was also in a bad mood. Kowalski only looked to be disappointed, not angry. Private was glad for that.<p>

"I just don't get it." Private thought when they were half way back to HQ. "What in the name of Penguin MI6 happened with my foot? That wasn't just a cramp was it? Perhaps I should ask Kowalski to run some tests on it or something." After his somewhat random thought of Penguin MI6 Private couldn't help, but suddenly wonder what his Uncle Nigel was up to.

~Meanwhile: London

Nigel had gotten some news from his Commander, he had gotten the next two weeks off for excellent work. He was very surprised considering the recent kidnapping of another agent, that left an odd opening at Penguin MI6. He was sure though that he would be found soon. His Commander gave him permission to go where ever he wanted, but to be very careful. He was glad about this too as he wanted to go somewhere special.

~Meanwhile: New York

Private had just left Kowalskis lab. He was a bit disappointed that there was nothing wrong with his foot. "It must have been one heck of a cramp!" Kowalski had said with big eyes.

Private had only shrugged, feeling a bit awkward.

"I wouldn't worry about it so much. They were extra annoyed because they were hungry. Come on you know how Rico gets." Kowalski had laughed. "Besides The Latter Formation was oddly tough for me to learn. Back before we were all together again after training I messed it up so often, its amazing I can still feel my face because I got slapped so many times." Kowalski had grinned after he said that.

Private had laughed: "Really? I never heard that story!"

Kowalskis grin got bigger because he made Private feel better. Then he patted him on the head and sent him off as he was going to do a dangerous experiment and didn't want him to get hurt.

As Private continued out of the lab, he heard something pop. He turned around to see something coming at him so fast it was a blurry mess. He had less than three seconds to react before the arrow was going to make him a penguin kabob!  
>Meanwhile Kowalski was in his lab, humming along to his pouring and mixing method of his potions. Suddenly, he dropped all of his potion and listened closely.<br>"AH!" Private yelled loudly. Kowalski knew he heard him whimper, this sent him out of the lab door and into the hallway.

They went into the main HQ where Private sat, trembling against the wall. His little body looked to be in complete shock. Kowalski quickly asked "Private, are you alright?" He waddled up to the younger penguin and helped him back up. Kowalski surveyed the room before Private could talk. He wanted to make sure nothing was broken, he noticed that the other two were topside somewhere. Then he went to check the hallway, but when he saw one particular thing, his heart broke. "No . . . My Erphotron!" Kowalski cried, completely forgetting about Private and running to his dripping potion. He didn't know it then, but an arrow lay on the other side of the table, dripping wet from Erphotron liquid. After Private had dodged it a second one was triggered that entered the lab. It had been aimed at Kowalskis primary work area. Kowalski didn't see it because he dashed out to see to the young cadet. "Private, What, HAPPENED?!" Kowalski yelled, his temperature rising. His voice caused Private to cower a little bit more, the Lieutenant seemed full on mad. Private opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a breath out, Kowalski was at it again: ''I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I SPENT MONTHS ON THIS AND NOW IT'S RUINED!"  
>"Kowalski, I . . . "<br>"No! Be quiet! First the fish mission and now THIS? Are you out to get us all today?!" Kowalski completely lost it. His anger grew and grew and before long it was out. It was like a horse running around in his gut, pushing at the walls of its pen before Kowalski set it free.  
>Private grabbed his Luna corn from his bunk and hugged it close to him. He was pressed tightly against the wall, near the ladder. ''If I can just get up the ladder, then I can leave and wait for Kowalski to let out some anger on his inventions and not me.'' Private thought. "Fine. I gotta go anyway." And before Kowalski could say different, Private went for the ladder by grabbing one handle with one wing, throwing the Luna corn up and then hoisting himself, after grabbing the Luna corn by the ear he catapulted himself up and over the fence of their habitat.<br>Kowalski stared, dumbfounded at what he had just done. "Should've given the boy a chance to talk . . . " The scientist thought to himself. "Too late. He'll come back later and I'll apologize. Then everything will be OK and better."  
>Meanwhile, Private slid out of the zoo and into the park, craving some fresh air. He didn't stop in the park, though. He didn't feel like sitting there. He decided he wanted to breath some ocean air and kept sliding until he reached the docks. He sat down, setting his Luna corn carefully next to him while dangling his webbed feet in the water.<br>"Well, well. If it isn't my little nephew. Where's that guardian of yours . . . Skipper, I believe?"

Private whipped around to see his Uncle Nigel, wearing a black belt around his waist that seemed to be decorated with weapons. Private gulped, grabbing his Luna corn and holding it closer. ''Huh? Oh the weapons!'' Nigel laughed ''Sorry about the scare my boy! Just a bit paranoid because of a recent kidnapping. So whats wrong?''

"Its the guys. They're mad at me. I mean really scary mad!"  
>Nigel then got a sudden idea. "Ah, well. I have a . . ." Nigel stopped for a moment, took a seat next to Private, then continued: "A Proposition for you then. My agency, Penguin M16 . . . You have heard of us, right?" He then joked.<br>"Yes -(he laughed)- Of course I have thanks to The Red Squirrel. It was because of them you left me in The London Zoo for protection and couldn't train me, you later told me during your last visit."  
>The older penguin laughed, as if this was the funniest thing ever: "Such a good memory! Well I was going to go back for you so your training could start, but something came up. Then you got transferred and when you got to NYC you were with your 'brothers' again so I figure it was fine. Which it was until now I guess. Anyway, there was a recent opening so we're hiring and I want you on the team. No one will get mad at you there! Make as many mistakes as you want, that's fine. We'll make sure you're happy and comfortable again."<br>Private nodded slowly. He didn't like this, leaving the others so suddenly, but this sounded like a good deal.  
>It was then that Nigel finely noticed the Luna corn, he blinked: ''You really like them huh? I thought it was a cover.''<p>

Private blushed: ''Hey you know that you have your quirks too, Uncle!'' It was a playful retort.

The spy laughed: ''That I do boy, that I do! I'll get you Luna corns fourth and fifth seasons on DVD when we get to London what do you say?" Uncle Nigel nudged Private then held out his wing. That did it.

He took his wing and shook it hard: "Deal.''

~Meanwhile: Team Skipper HQ

"Kowalski! We have big news!" Skipper cried, coming down through the hatch. When he saw Kowalski nervously working on an invention like it was the least breakable thing ever, Skipper immediately began to worry. "What's wrong?"  
>Kowalski turned around, having worry etched all over his face: "I got mad at Private and yelled at him. He ran out. That was more than four hours ago! He's never out this long by himself. Longest he's ever done that is an hour and that's when we needed to go rescue him from the rabid toy poodle Mr. Chew! And the time you were sleep deprived and you threw him out!"<br>"That's the thing! The cameras we destroyed, they're back up! And no one was at the zoo today, it's closed. They were pointed right at HQ! Who could have fixed them?"  
>Kowalski immediately got worried. As in even more worried: "I'll check the cameras surveillance footage." Kowalski walked over to the new computer on the hall door. He pressed a few buttons and an image of the cameras popped up. It had all four penguins soon after they had scurried away.<p>

Skipper noticed the burning camera and gave Rico, who was standing behind them, a look. Rico scratched the back on his neck nervously, laughed then shrugged. Skipper rolled his eyes and focused his attention back to the computer screen and gasped. Hans was picking up the broken cameras and slowly putting them back together again. He smiled at the one camera working, the penguins own camera. He waved at it then walked out of frame. Kowalski put his head in his wings.

"Let me get this straight: one of our enemies is back and tried to compromise us, he probably planted traps for Private for some sick reason and now Privates missing?!" Everyone nodded at Skippers remark.  
>"Uh oh." Rico said sadly.<p>

Skipper quickly had the city mapped out into a search grid with the help of Kowalski. Then he, after sending Rico to permanently 'fix' the cameras and their footage, assembled all of the zoos residents to help in the search for Private.

"Eh, don't you be telling me that this is all being another Kowalski mishap!" said Julian in an annoyed voice. Said penguin had awoken him from his 'royal nap'.

"Uh, never mind the cause! We have a friend that is MIA and a crazy puffin on the loose!" said Skipper in his most authoritative tone.

"But I thought you shipped him back to Denmark!" said Marlene

Kowalski then spoke up: "He is very cunning. My theory is that the Dames may have sent him here to get someone close to Skipper, if not Skipper himself." The gathering of animals gasped, all of them knowing that Skipper was Public Enemy Number One there, seemingly despite the fact he destroyed the file, though not the story as to why.

"Then why would he want to have a go at the little one?" asked Joey

"Private gave him a whooping before we sent him to Denmark, so revenge?" said Kowalski

"Well, good on the little bloke!" said Joey

The two penguins grinned at the rare compliment from the usually foul tempered kangaroo. A moment later Rico got back from his little mine mission (just in time as Alice came in to check the footage as he jumped out the window) and they got down to their task of dividing up the city for searching. It wasn't until they were done and ready to move out that the two Brits walked in through the main entrance after Nigel hacked the animal DNA activated security system.

"What's all this then?" Nigel asked tilting his head at the fact that all the animals were headed their way. They all stopped in surprise, Julian tripping over Mort and prat falling in the process. Nigel grinned at that.

"Private your OK!" yelled the other three penguins.

"That is one heck of a relief!" said Marlene with a good type sigh. "Where were you?"

Private looked oddly timid suddenly: "I- I took my Uncle sight seeing around the city."

"Then we caught a show!" said Nigel "It was grand."

Skipper blinked: "Well, we are glad you guys had fun, but you could have told us. We were all about to head out looking for you Young Private." Skipper blinked again as his youngest cadet seemed to shrink away, while clutching his Luna corn closer, from Skippers nickname for him. He wasn't the only one to notice either, even Julian noticed his odd behavior.

"Uh, is somethings wrong Private?" He asked tilting his head.

"Well, I'm not sure 'wrong' is the right word, Lemur King." said Nigel looking a tad awkward. "But Private dose have something he wants to tell you." He turned to Private and spoke gently: "Its OK, go ahead and tell them." He then gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Private nodded feeling a bit braver: "I- -(clears throat)- I have decided to leave The Skippers Unit and be an agent at Penguin MI6." This was followed by a large collective gasp from the animal gathering.

"What?!" shouted Rico

"Texas barbecued fish sticks!" shouted Skipper

"Hoover Dam!" yelled Kowalski Everyone stared at him.

"I thought that was Skippers line." said one of the baboons.

"It just came out." Kowalski shrugged. A couple of the others snorted, including Nigel.

It was Marlene that got them back on track: "But why do you want to leave, Private? Don't you still like it here?"

"I will always love New York, but I just don't feel like I fit in here anymore." Private answered with a quick glance at The Team.

"It can't be because of this morning can it?! Because I feel really b-" began Kowalski about to apologize before he was interrupted.

"But what about that camping trip with Athena next week?" said Maurice throwing Kowalski a 'my bad' type look. "It won't be the same without you for one and she'll be sad if your not there." He was hoping that he could get him to stay for that, perhaps he would change his mind. "You can come too Nigel, if you want."

The two Brits looked at each other and seemed to be about to say something when Nigels MI6 communicator went off: "Sorry, I know I gave you time off, but we have a case only our top agent can take care of. Get back here ASAP! Over And Out!"

"So much for that idea!" thought Maurice.

"Time to pack!" Nigel said quickly turning to Private. Who nodded and belly slid to HQ without looking at anyone. The Team all looked at each other before belly sliding after him. By the time they got down into HQ he was already half way done putting stuff into a penguin sized duffel bag.

"Private, don't you think that this is all kind of sudden? You taking off like this?" said Skipper rubbing the back of his head.  
>"Perhaps, sorry about that." His voice was a bit higher then normal. "But, I have been getting in the way a lot recently, not just today. I mean like when we were having the beavers fix our tunnels. The badgers got right by me, though part of that was Skippers fault as he knows I'm scared of them."<br>Skipper rubbed the back of his head again: "Well, I was trying to use the direct approach to help you get rip of that fear to be honest."  
>"Epic fail!" said Kowalski Skipper shot him a look while the other two snorted. Kowalski then cleared his throat: "Well there's some things you should know before you leave, I'm kind hoping they will change your mind. First thing, its not going to be the same around here without you!"<br>Private shrugged: "You get on alright without me." The other three jumped at his icy tone, he had never sounded like that before.  
>"Uh, the second thing is that we feel really bad for ragging on you today, we didn't have all the facts." said Skipper<br>Since Private still had his back to them they didn't see him roll his eyes at that. "Like that hasn't happened before." he thought.  
>"It was Hans!" blurted Rico suddenly. "That's number three!"<br>Though it caught Privates attention he had his mind made up by now: "Well that's interesting, but I'm still going. You can handle him without me." He then put the bag over his shoulder and went back up the ladder again to say goodbye to the rest of his friends.  
>"I have never known him to be that stubborn!" said Skipper<br>"Perhaps him taking after you isn't the good thing you thought it was." said Kowalski  
>"Guess so." said Skipper The three then went up the ladder after him.<p>

Private sighed as he climbed up the ladder. Did he really want to do this? He was leaving his team- his brothers and his friends behind. Even his name, Private, would be staying with them. Then Private remembered all the times he had been yelled at. All the smacking around and insults he had gotten during his time with the guys. No matter how much he loved them, that was a scary thing to think about. "I'm doing the right thing. This is good, remember that." Private whispered to himself as he hoisted up the last ladder step, into the bright sunlight.

Nigel was talking to Marlene and seemed to be telling her a story of one of his adventures. Private walked over to hear the conversation. "And then I punched it in the nose! It went flying at least seven yards, I tell you." Nigel cried, making a punching action with his 'fists'.  
>Marlene laughed, shook her head and muttered "You are just like the rest of the penguins. Full of tall-tale missions!"<br>"It happened, I swear!" Nigel cried, looking a little sad at her non-believing.  
>She just laughed then saw Private who said ''Lets us not forget that you also didn't believe in Dr. Blowhole until he showed up. Then you freaked!'' She laughed again then gave him a goodbye hug. She was a bit choked up so she didn't say anything. Private gave her a pat and promised to visit as soon as he could and made sure everyone heard him. She nodded and walked off towards Skipper, who seemed to be staring at Private intently.<br>Nigel turned to Private with a look of sadness on his face: "Is she always like that?"  
>"Every day, Uncle." The others, but The Team, came over and there were some high fives, quick goodbyes and some hugs.<br>After they all left Nigel eyed the one thing Private was bringing: His Luna corn. "Are you sure that's all you have?" He asked. As it turned out the bag he had was full of snacks and his one through three seasons of The Luna corns on DVD.  
>"Besides the first three seasons of their show its all I have at The Base." Private said then, despite his mood, chuckled: "Trust me, I would be bringing the Telly if I could."<br>Nigel laughed warmly and guided Private towards The Team to say his final goodbye.  
>Skipper looked at Private for a long time and then said the last thing he ever expected Skipper to say: "I'm sorry."<br>Private just nodded hollowly. A strange pulling at his gut told him to stay, to be with his team and the people he loved, but he looked at Nigel and he knew he was to ignore the feeling. "It's okay, Skipper. I forgive you." Private answered in his sweetest tone. He shook wings with Skipper and then moved to Kowalski. He smiled up at the scientist. "Try not to blow anything up." Private said.  
>Kowalski whipped his abacus out of his feathers and started moving some of the beads around: "That is . . . Physically impossible."<p>

Private smiled at his retort and moved on to Rico and rolled his eyes grinning: "I think you know what I'm gonna say."

Rico grinned and coughed up a stick of normal TNT and shoved it in Privates face. "Kaboom kaboom?"  
>Private took the stick in his wings and turned to Nigel, smiling warmly: "Shall we?"<br>"We shall." Nigel took the stick from Private and pulled a lighter from his weapons belt, after lighting the fuse he threw it to the ground. Private got in one last wave, before the the TNT went off. When the smoke cleared, the two were gone. The explosion caught some of the other animals attention, the ones that were closest looked out of reflex not expecting to see anything, but maybe a bit of black on the ground. That bit of black was there, but so were the three remaining penguins. They were a bit stunned that Private had actually left.

Skipper heaved a big sigh before signaling that they head back to base with a halfhearted wave of his wing. They went in a line with their heads slightly down. The onlookers felt the same as they did.

~Meanwhile: In Rout To The Airport

"So, you excited?" Nigel asked when he spotted his nephew looking over his shoulder.

He looked back at his uncle before answering: "Actually I am!" He wouldn't say it to Nigel, but he was surprised by this true answer. He just couldn't figure out weather it was the good kind or the bad kind.

The two didn't talk much more the whole trip to the airport. They were on the plane when Nigel suddenly posed a question: "What do you want your new name to be?"

Private looked up at him: "Why is it that I have to change it? I knew I would, but why? Did you have to?"

"No, but your transferring from another type of team to being an agent. Its to keep them safe should you say, finely make an arch enemy. By changing you name they can't use your affiliation with them, through you old name, to get to them. I didn't have to change mine since all that caused me to put you in The London Zoo was a promotion." Nigel explained rubbing the back of his head a bit at the end.

Private wasn't surprised by the fact that he had always worked for Penguin MI6: "Oh its a tactic of protection then."

Nigel nodded: "How about a really tough name, you know to counter act your cuteness, freak out the bad guys."

Private laughed as he thought of the looks on his former teams enemies faces, as they were the only ones he knew of, if he had a big tough type name then he walked in. "Nah, I say something simple would do. Not really overtly tough, but when I get a reputation it will be."

Nigel grinned then said "That makes sense, you got one?"

Private took a second to think: "Ash."

"Agent Ash." said Nigel considering. "Just kind of rolls doesn't it? I like it." The two grinned at each other.

~Meanwhile: Several Weeks Later, Team Skipper HQ

Skipper sat, tapping his wings on the table and rolling his fish around in his coffee. Kowalski, a while back, had automatically set the TV to turn on at 0800 hours, which was when the Luna corns was on. It had been a lot of help now many, many weeks ago, when Private was sick and to weak to actually pick up the remote. Now, though, it just hurt Skipper. He sat, twirling his fish and suddenly the TV flipped on and the theme song for the boys favorite show came on. Normally, Skipper would have groaned and threw a fish at the TV to shut it up, but he didn't this time. He was also annoyed that they had been unable to find Hans, it was like he dropped off the face of the earth!  
>"Skipper! Alice is walking by, you better get up here!" Kowalski cried down the hatch. A little ray of sunlight brushed past his shoulders, giving the HQ light.<br>"Coming, soldier!" Skipper cried and waddled over to the TV to switch it off. The theme song died down and he flipped up the ladder. The sunlight hit him hard, his eyes hardly adjusting. The roar of the crowd blared in his ears, giving him a slight headache.  
>Alice pushed through the crowd and leaned over the railing to get a better look at the three penguins. They smiled and waved casually, letting Alice survey them. The girl raised her eyebrows suspiciously and ripped out her walkie talkie: "Hey, we have four penguins, right?"<br>"I dunno, whatever." Came a middle-aged mans reply. Alice seemed to growl into the walkie before answering.

"I think it's the small, pudgy one. He seems to be . . . Gone." She circled the habitat, then threw her hands up in disgust. "I don't see how these birds just fly away!"  
>"Alice, calm down. I'm sure things are fine. Get back to work, ignore it and the little critter will be back in a day, tops." her co-worked said<br>Alice sighed: "I suppose your right. Hey, its your day to clean out the rhino habitat cause I can't take another -" As she walked away her voice faded out of the reach of the penguins ears. They all let out a held in sigh.  
>"That was close, Skipper." Kowalski said worriedly.<br>"Agreed. Soldier, get the Private de-coy, the freakishly good one. We'll set it up for bait and the humans will buy it, hook, line and sinker." Skipper said  
>Kowalski nodded and dove down the hatch, coming up a few moments later with the de-coy. Skipper took it from him and looked it right in the eye before setting it down next to him: "Your not the real Private.''<p>

~Meanwhile: England, Nigels Cottage

Private or rather Ash was taking a break from training as he and his uncle had gotten time off again. Nigels Commander felt a bit bad for recalling him from his vacation to handle something that was so top secret that the newly named Ash wasn't even allowed to know.

He had just laughed though and said "Your pulling a Skipper!"

Nigel had laughed then bowed like a showmen, which made his nephew laugh more. Though Nigel got time off right after he was done with that mission Ash hadn't. The Commander had wanted to know what his newest agent could do. So he had put him through some very hard training tests. The Commander had been impressed that one so young had done so well. Ash had found himself thinking "Thank you Skipper." more then once while grinning, but now he was just enjoying himself in his uncles huge garden. Even though it had been part of his cover Nigel really did like flowers. He said that to have a cover as convincing as his was you had to include something that you liked in it. Ash stowed that one away in the very good advice category.

Living with Nigel allowed him to see some of his other quirks, some started out normal enough, but would sometimes take a weird turn: one example of that would be that he would sometimes sleep walk. Not all that weird unless he was dreaming that he was a shirtless ninja from those movies they (and Team Skipper) liked. He and Ash would end up in a ninja like fight. Neither one got hurt as Nigel was rather sloppy at sleep fighting and Ash only blocked until he woke up. It reminded him of the time something similar had happened to Lenard The Kola back in New York.

Another strange quirk that also worked as fun training is that he liked mysteries. Ash could picture Kowalski saying: 'Well of course he dose, hes British!' in a good natured way. The one odd part was that he sometimes wouldn't let him join in with watching or listening to it with him. Then later he would don a Sherlock Holmes outfit and proclaim "We have a case to solve!" Then he would lay it out for really Ash to solve. He would just help him and that was only when he really needed it. It was to help in being observant and use reasoning, things like that. The outfit part was just because Nigel liked it.

After the two week of vacation was over Nigel and Ash reported back to Penguin MI6 for duty. They ended up having to do some missions together. The first one they had to take care of was as quirky as Nigel was. A messed up lady mouse, who was pretty much the equal to The Rat King back in New York, had her rodent minions attack a noodle factory. Her plan you ask? To flood the whole of London with specially modified noodles to tangle up the humans as a way to take over the city.

"Wow, there are New York style weirdos all the way over here?!" Ash had asked.

Nigel laughed and said "I'm pretty sure there are weirdos everywhere in the world and I thought you liked the word quirky."

"That words all yours." Ash said with a snort.

Nigel grinned.

They defeated the mice by putting the factory on lock down before the first wave of noodles got released, then they had a battle on the noodles. That was very much like a surfing contest, but with fighting. Then the two had to eat there was out.

In the second mission The Blue Hen broke free of Penguin MI6 and decided that she was going to be The Queen Of England! The funny parts of that mission was that one, The Queen wasn't even in England when she broke into the palace and two she didn't know her way around and got lost. An awkward part was that neither did Ash so Nigel had his wings full tracking them both down when he said split up with out thinking. Nigel, of course, knew his way around.

The three ended up all smashing into each other in The Queens study without even meaning to. The Blue Hen then made the mistake of using the stun gun she had on her to blast at Ash. Nigel shoved him out of the way and got hit. He wasn't down long though, just long enough for Ash to Quantum Hyper Cute her into submission. She had tried to fire the stun gun at him again and he didn't have time to do anything else. Nigel patted him on the back and assured him he was fine. Then they took The Blue Hen back into custody.

Between missions Ash was required to train most of the day when they were at Penguin MI6. Nigel was with him most of the time. Finley he got to get in the training he had missed out on when Private was younger. Sometimes he had meetings though. It reminded Ash of New York, the training schedule. He found it quite comforting, though he did miss the others too.

The next mission the two got was The Red Squirrel. He wanted to fill a theater full of people with some kind of strange chemical he was testing. Ash brought it upon himself to don a disguise in the form of Nigels Sherlock Holmes outfit so he wouldn't be recognized for the second time. (The first time being against The Blue Hen) Armed with a super bright flash light and his sick Kung Fu skills he distracted the eye patch (which Ash pulled on and snapped back into his face making him grunt "Stupid eye patch!") wearing rodent long enough to let his uncle replace the chemical with knock out gas and reverse the machine so that when he was tricked into thinking he defeated Ash he knocked himself out. They had to do it that way as the order was to bring the squirrel in as unharmed as possible.

The mission after that was the trickiest one Ash was ever a part of and of course Nigel added his own quirky flare to it. They had to stop the bird napping of a singing parrot that was slowly gaining fame, who lived with some very rich humans. The reason that Penguin MI6 knew about it was the bird napper was cocky enough to send a warning letter telling when and where it was going to go down. The Commander didn't really want Ash to go as he hadn't done many of these kinds of missions, but Nigel really wanted to bring him. Being the top agent had its perks of course so The Commander let him.

What made the mission tricky was they had to secure the house and the target without being seen by any of the humans there. Which they did after a few close calls. What made it a bit weird, and Ash was sure Nigel was doing it to test him a bit, was that Nigel dressed himself as the parrot to act as a decoy. Ash was a bit relived that he for once didn't have to be the bait, but he would have to fight without his uncle which he hadn't done yet. This made him a bit nervous, but it was defused a lot by the fact that when they secured the parrot they found out it was a lady and always wore a pretty pick bow on the back of her head. It was attached to her feathers with a custom made clip. Nigels face went into his wing when he found that out and Ash laughed at him.

''Really? You like to run around dressed up like Sherlock Holmes and a pretty pink bow bothers you?'' Ash asked through his laughter which almost made him fall down now that he said it.

Nigel held himself up in a dignified way: ''Pink is not my color boy, royal purple is! You should know that.'' This just made him laugh more, Nigel just rolled his eyes.

It was also tricky to switch the dressed up Nigel with the lady parrot without being spotted after the last singing practice of the day. Ash thought it was a bit funny that he didn't want to do the switch until then too, suspecting that his uncle was lacking in the singing department. Other then that though Nigel was really good at pretending that he was a parrot, while the real one was hiding with some other agents outside for protection.

The thief was very punctual in making his appearance and thought that he was in the clear as he shot a net around the disguised penguin. All Nigel could tell was that it was another bird, but not what kind it was because he was all covered up, kind of like a ninja. Who knew something was wrong when his netted catch didn't try to fly away. That's when Ash tossed in a smoke bomb and attacked. The two fought back and forth for a good long time, until Ash was hit by the stun gun that the 'ninja bird' had hidden in his outfit. It didn't do much, just made him back off a bit, the gun wasn't charged very much.

''Next time check your equipment!'' Nigel shouted He was now out of the net as he had bitten himself free. He then tried to tackle the 'ninja bird' as he was smacking his stun gun angrily. Ash thought that the way he did it looked familiar. Nigels tackle didn't work as the bird suddenly jumped into the air and flew out the window. ''Blast! Well, it explains why he can get around so fast.''

Ash looked a little sad when Nigel turned around: ''Uh, so now what?''

''Chin up boy. This was my mess up not yours, I got cocky and didn't prepare for everything. Even top agents make mistakes.'' He gave Ash a pat. ''It wasn't a total loss though, we made sure he didn't make off with the lady parrot and agents will be here to make sure he doesn't try again. Don't worry you did very well and we shall get him!'' Nigel was all fired up and true to his word he took the blame for the 'ninja birds' escape when the met up with The Commander later that night.

~Meanwhile: New York

Skipper paced around his lair, deep in thought. He didn't really know what he was thinking about exactly, more like remembering. He remembered the time Private had slipped and earned the nickname "Slippy" all around the world.  
>Kowalski burst the hall door open, making everyone in the room jump. Rico had been sitting at the table, secretly working on his scrapbook. He quickly hid it whenever Skipper turned around to see him.<br>"I've done it!" shouted the scientist.  
>"You've done what, exactly, soldier?"<br>"Cracked time and space for the fifth time!"  
>Skipper sighed. Even Kowalski's antics didn't cheer him up. "Perfect, Kowalski." He muttered and sat down. Rico pushed the scrapbook under the table with his foot.<br>Kowalski noticed Skippers mood and walked over to him, sitting down: "Why is he moving out so much on you, Skipper? I mean, you got over it when Manfredi and Johnson vanished. Why not Privates leaving?"  
>Skipper sighed once again looking away, in the direction of the hatch. "Have you ever lost family before Kowalski?" He asked, still turned away from him.<br>"Um . . . Yes, back in Antarctica before I met you and Rico."

"Then you should know what it feels like. That boy . . . He was kinda like a son to me in certain way as well as my little brother. Same as the two of you, but he was the youngest. I'll get over him in time, I'm sure." Skipper reassured them though he was fully convinced himself. Then he went to grab his coffee, which he had left sitting in the coffee maker. Kowalski and Rico got that, after all Private was like their little brother. The little guy referred to them as his brother as much as he said they were his friends.  
>"Not so fast, Skipper." Came a familiar voice.<br>Skipper twirled around to see Hans on the TV. He seemed to be in an abandoned warehouse and he twirled a ray of some sort around in his wings: "Hans! What do you want?"  
>"Have you been . . . missing a certain someone lately?" A picture of Private walking down a hall came into view, beside him walked Nigel. Skipper froze. They seemed to be talking, but kept looking in the direction of the camera. It was obvious they felt someone was watching them.<br>"What are you going to do to them?!" He demanded.  
>"The Secret Agent, I have a plan for. The Young Private? Nothing . . . If he doesn't get in the way. Maybe! I suggest you high-tail it to England, Skipper . . . Before its to late!" Hans cried, laughing. He punched a button on his control panel and the screen went black. ''Perfect, I will beat you penguins this time! All I have to do now is get The Spy alone, now that I tested his skill level, so I can use my Mind Scrambler Ray on him. Kowalski eat your heart out!'' said Hans twirling the ray gun again.<br>Skipper stood, rooted to the spot for a few moments. Then he turned back to his team, who were staring at the screen with shock. "Boys!" Skipper growled "We're going to England.''

A bit later: Kowalski shoved three trusty items into his back pack: his New Shrink Ray, his abacus and his options clipboard. He turned to Skipper, an unsure look on his face: "Do you have a plan, Skipper?"  
>"Oh yes, a very complicated, fantastically dangerous plan."<br>"No plan?"  
>"No plan."<br>Kowalski sighed. He at least wished they had a plan for once, instead of running into this blindly.  
>"Do you have any options, brain boy?" Skipper questioned waddling over to the scientist, taking a break from his own packing. The only thing Skipper was bringing was his knife, a long, sleek knife. Just in case.<br>"Actually yes, subway to downtown, then bus if needed because the airport is in the west of the city. Ride there and take a plane to England. Viola."  
>Skipper rolled his eyes, but said just the same "Thank you. Good ideas."<br>"Your welcome. Though Skipper, I'm not sure we even need to do this. I mean, Nigel may be a bit quirky, but hes a responsible adult. He can take care of Private and himself just fine. Why, I think Privates at the age where he can handle himself as well."  
>"We're going, Kowalski. They're two penguins. Together, we would be five. The more, the safer."<br>"Aye, Skipper.'' Kowalski said with a nod.

''Rico! Are you ready yet?" Skipper called into the main HQ from the lab, where Rico was sitting on his bunk with a Kaboom magazine.  
>"Uh huh, uh huh!" Rico replied gravelly. Of course, he didn't even have to pack. Everything he needed was in his stomach, ready to go.<br>"Kowalski?"  
>"Yes, Skipper, I'm ready!"<br>"Alright, then boys lets catch a train.''

The three penguins jumped into the subway. By sneaking under a woman's dress they boarded the train. Once on, they hid in the main drivers area, behind a coat.  
>"Kowalski?" coughed Skipper "Couldn't you have found a different less STINKY place to hide?"<p>

''Ew!'' said Rico a wing over his nostrils.  
>"Sorry, Skipper. I'll account that for next time." Kowalski said taking out his clipboard and quickly scribbling the note while making a face at the smell, before putting it away. "We get off at the next stop, then take the seven to eight hour plane ride. And then we should touch down near the center of London. From there, we . . . " Kowalski ripped out his option clipboard again and started flipping through the pages. "Find Private and save him and Nigel from Hans."<br>"Sounds like a solid plan." Skipper said. Just then, the subway came to a halting stop.  
>"Edge of the city, everyone off." The person over the intercom said, barely audible.<br>"Okay, that's our cue boys." Skipper said smiling. He signaled for them to leave. They belly slid out the door, hidden by the many pairs of feet that belonged to people who were also struggling to push their way out of the bustling train. They hid behind a statue until the crowd relatively cleared, then belly slid out of the revolving doors and into the street. They darted from trash can to trash can, using them as shields to stay hidden. They made it to the airport without being noticed.

A little girl skipped, her hand in her mothers. Her brown curls bounced up and down as she followed her mother giddily. She had a new Minnie Mouse doll tucked under her arm, so she must have gone to Disney Land recently during her travels. Her mom looked exasperated and like she hadn't slept in days. She dragged a mini suitcase behind her, perfect for the penguins. They slipped into it when she wasn't looking.  
>It wasn't long before they felt a big jostle and Kowalski poked his head out to find they were being loaded onto the plane. As soon as they got onto the plane and felt it take off, they slipped out of it.<br>"Good planning, Kowalski! That's why your my-" Just then, a ear-splitting beeping was heard throughout the luggage area. Kowalski reached into his back pack and came out with his Smart Phone. He unlocked it, punched in a few buttons and a clear picture of a certain deadly puffin came up.  
>"Ah, Skipper. Close now, are we?" He laughed. "You might wanna hurry, if you want to get there in time!" A bloodcurdling scream was heard in the background. It sounded like Private and that sent shivers down Skippers spine. It also clearly upset the other two.<br>"We'll be right there, puffin!" He growled and punched the screen, breaking it into multiple pieces. Doing this caused both the other two to jump, they had never seen him do anything like that before.

''Whoa Skipper!'' said Rico with huge eyes.

''Good thing I got me a back up from the lost and found three days ago.'' said Kowalski looking unnerved.

This snapped Skipper back to his senses like he got slapped: ''Sorry boys, but that puffin just. . . Gr!''

''He gets to you almost as much as Blowhole, especially considering what he caused.'' said Kowalski calmly as he took out the first aide kit from his back pack to tend to Skippers wing.

''Correct.'' answered Skipper

''Yeah hes getting to me too, I still haven't really figured out what hes up to.'' said Kowalski ''Seeing as my Denmark theory seems to be wrong.''

''Course you have been doing other projects.'' said Skipper

''Yes, as a break.'' His eyes suddenly got a bit dodgy.

Skipper had caught him now though: ''Oh I get it you have been keeping yourself distracted! You have been just as bothered by Privates leaving as I am haven't you?!'' He flinched as it came out a little on the harsh side. Kowalski wasn't bothered though as he nodded. They both looked at Rico, he grinned in a 'busted' sort of way then rubbed the back of his head. ''Then why ask me-''

''So I wouldn't get caught and you have been in such a slump lately . . . you . . . you don't seem like the type who would be bothered about this kind of thing for this long.'' Kowalski shrugged

Skipper grinned at him understanding.

~Meanwhile: Hans Base

In his base Hans laughed at Skippers reaction to his fake Private scream. Skipper was waddling right into his grasp! All he had to do was keep pushing his buttons.

~Meanwhile: In Rout To England

Kowalski stitched up the last bit of his leader injury (the wing had been numbed with special Kowalski made medicine and he kept his eyes shut as his Lieutenant had advised) before wrapping it and patted the birds wing. "Good as new, but lets lay off with the screen punching from now on. Okay?" He said, grinning widely.  
>Skipper rolled his eyes, but smiled as well. "Yeah, sure okay. No promises." He muttered under his breath and got a soft punch from Rico, who had accidentally heard. The ride was relaxing and not eventful, so we'll just skip over that since its so boring, hm?<br>They touched down safely at the airport and once again jumped into the little girls bag. They burrowed under the clothes to stay down, until they felt themselves be picked up roughly and tossed without any care.  
>"Ouch!" Kowalski cried when his head hit the top of the suitcase with a ''THUMP'' "They could be gentle every once and a while!" He complained, rubbing his head with his wing. Skipper nodded as they jostled around, while Rico was trying to keep his stomach (or rather his bombs) down. The look on his face was uncanny, he was struggling not to up chuck from the sickness the rough movement caused.<br>As soon as the bag settled down, Kowalski peeked out to find they were rolling towards a car. The little girl was struggling to pull the suitcase behind her, her mother was deep in a conversation on the phone and not paying much attention.  
>"Go, men. Go go go!" Skipper hissed and they all slid out, unnoticed.<br>"Where to now, Kowalski?" He questioned the scientist when they were safely hidden behind a trash can.  
>"Listen to the thousands of British accents for the next three days?"<br>"It's like we're living in a episode of Doctor Who!" Skipper said, rolling his eyes and crossing his wings. "I meant how do we get there."  
>"Oh . . . Well . . . I haven't really thought about that yet. My plan was to get here and save Private and Nigel. That's it."<br>Skipper sighed as his face went into his wing. "Okay . . . Sounds good. Move out, men! We're on secret-agent-penguin-watch!''

~Meanwhile: In Rout To Penguin MI6

Nigel had been in the garden tending his plants with Ash when he got a call from HQ. He was to come alone. The two had figured that it was one of those top secret meetings again. Ash was a bit annoyed because they had been having a good time, but Nigel promised to make something special for them both when he got back. The Top Agent was about half way there when he suddenly stopped getting a weird feeling. He was in the middle of an ally way and looked around, feeling he was being watched. He heard something fall then another sound, a weird one. It came from behind him so he took evasive action.

''Blast!'' yelled Someone

Nigel turned and saw the 'ninja bird' standing there with a new ray gun in his wings. Nigel may not have known what it was for, but he knew it wasn't for stunning. ''I'm going to get you with my Mind Scrambler so I can control you, just you wait!'' thought Hans, the so called 'ninja bird'. ''Its revenge time!''

''Interesting accent. German correct?'' asked Nigel with an odd expression on his face as he wasn't expecting it. He was so quick with catching things like that, that he heard it when his attacker only said 'Blast'.

''Hmph!'' grunted Hans as he fired two more times while thinking: ''It was hard work hacking Penguin MI6 signal to get him here. Hes not getting away!''

Nigel dodged both. The second one just barley, but he spoke with cocky swagger all the same: ''You need to work on your aim!''

''Hes so much like Skipper its annoying!'' Hans said to himself accidentally, he hoped that it wasn't heard. Then he saw that the power gauge on The Mind Scrabbler was getting low. ''OK then Plan B it is!'' Hans said to himself hoping that Nigel didn't hear again. Then he spoke to Nigel anyway trying and failing to change his voice: ''Your a better opponent then I thought!'' Then he attacked him knowing that the ray had only one more good shot in it before it would need a nice long re-charge. There was some brief fast wing to wing combat before Hans kicked Nigel into a metal trash can hard enough for the top to fall off. ''Got you now!'' said 'the ninja bird' taking aim at Nigel again. Then he fired, but Nigel was faster. He grabbed the trash can lid and used it as a shield. The beam bounced off and went for its shooter. Nigel heard a scream then a rolling dodge, but by the time he had the lid down his opponent was gone.

''Oh no! Private! Er I'm mean Ash!'' Nigel then quickly headed for home, scared that he might be the next target of that mad bird.

Hans though was flying in the opposite direction: ''OK then after a re-charge, Plan C it is. Well, at least this one might be fun!''

~Meanwhile: Team Skipper

The penguins were sliding down a busy street when suddenly, Skipper stopped. Kowalski crashed into him, followed by Rico. Skippers wing shot up, in a don't move signal. "Quiet . . . Do you hear that?" He whispered. The bustle of the city was loud and obnoxious, but in the distance you could roughly hear . . .  
>"Fighting?" Kowalski murmured. The 'oof', pushing and knocking noises were quiet authentic for fighting.<br>"Follow me." Skipper hissed. To him, the entire world around him had stopped. It was just him, his team and those noises. They slid wildly down the streets towards the fighting, like a bloodhound on a scent. Just as they got close to the noises, they stopped. Skipper groaned. Their one trace, gone! They were leaning against a cold brick wall, just near an ally. They peeked down it and saw the one thing they were there for: Nigel was running in the opposite direction and Skipper saw their chance fleeing. "Nigel!" He cried. The penguin turned around and saw them, gasping.  
>"How are . . . Never mind, no time! Privates in danger! Hans just attacked me. He was in disguise, but he said I was like Skipper so I recognized his voice. That and hes very bad at faking voices. He also said he was going for Plan B. That 'Plan B' might very well be Private." He said in one breath, obviously very worried. Skipper surveyed him and decided he was defiantly telling the truth. It was a habit of his.<br>"Lets go save The Private, then!"  
>"Actually, he goes by 'Ash' now."<p>

Skipper looked at Kowalski, who was fighting not to laugh. A tough name for the little young guy. "OK. Lets stop wasting time and save Ash then!'' Skipper had a feeling that he wasn't going to be going by that name while they were around though, calling him by another name was going to be tough for them.

The penguins slid furiously towards the olders house. People gasped and cried out as they passed, but as long as they were fast enough they could outrun them. They arrived at a posh looking cottage, painted bright yellow, with pots of flowers on the lawn and a huge garden in the back. The door had different carvings on it, one of the sun, the moon and what looked like a compass. It would be a relaxing sight, if they weren't scared for a certain young penguins life.  
>For a moment, Nigel panicked. He couldn't see Private Ash where he usually was, working in the rose garden, but then he shifted himself and saw the young penguin bent over a rose, tending gently to it. "Thank goodness your OK." He breathed out through his nostrils, his entire body relaxing.<br>"Of course I'm fine. Hi, Uncle Nigel. What's-" Just then other important penguins stepped into view from behind his uncle. "SKIPPER!" He cried, jumping up. He embraced Skipper in a tight hug, which Skipper returned.  
>He laughed to himself: "I missed you too, Private Ash."<br>"Kowalski, Rico! I missed you guys a lot." Private said, a wide smile spreading across his beak.

Kowalski waved warmly to him and Rico rasped "Was-sup." with a big grin.  
>"Wait." He muttered, letting Skipper go and turning to Nigel. "Why would I be dead?''<p>

Nigel jumped a bit: ''Dead?! Who said anything about something being dead?''

The group giggled at his reaction, then Private Ash spoke: ''Well you looked that relieved to see me. As if that's what you were expecting.''

''Hes got a point!'' grunted Rico still grinning.

''OK fair enough!'' said Nigel with his wings on his hips and puffing out his chest looking so much like Skipper when he was trying to look dignified that his nephew laughed again while the others grins got bigger. Then he told him what happened in the ally.

''Oh dear!'' said The Young One

Kowalski seemed to be thinking about it: ''Hm, I don't think Private, uh sorry Ash, was his Plan B. I think it was him attacking you instead of just shooting that ray at you.''

''Yes, then he flew off and I thought he was coming here.'' said Nigel as everyone turned to look at Kowalski.

''But he tried to shoot you again and missed just before that. I think he has a Plan C in mind.'' said Kowalski ''What it might be I don't know though.''

''Well, then we will just have to stay as frosty as a snow cone until you do.'' said Skipper

For quite a few days, Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, Nigel and Private Ash all lived in peace in the little house. Whenever they (the two Brits) weren't on missions or trying to puzzle out what Hans was up to (mostly Kowalski), they would sit around the table and play cards. Team Skipper was trying to keep a low profile so they stayed there, though The Commander did know they were there and was fine with it as long as they weren't disruptive.

There were five rooms in the small cottage. The living room, which was a large, oval wooden relaxation area. There was a large, light blue couch against the wall and a glossy wooden table in front of it. To both sides of the coffee table were recliners, both leather. Then directly across from the couch and table was a warm fireplace. Since it was the middle of fall Uncle Nigel almost always had it going and Private Ash took comfort in the everlasting heat. There was a flat-screen TV on the wall above the mantle.

Almost every night, they would all gather around the table and play cards, Skipper and Nigel always competing every night to see who would get the final draw.  
>All the kitchen consisted of was a small table with five chairs around it, a wood stove, a real stove, a fridge and some cupboards hugging the back wall. Every night Private made dinner in there, serving it up fresh and hot to his 'new' and old family.<br>There were two bedrooms, Nigel took one, the team took the other. They were fine with this arrangement, since they were used to sleeping together back in HQ. Their room was just like the bunks, except there was one bunk bed at each side of the room. Rico and Kowalski took one, Skipper and Private Ash took the other. At the far back of the room, in the middle of the long stretch of wall, was a chest. Kowalski kept his abacus, his Shrink Ray and his options clipboard in it along with the first aide kit. Skipper kept his knife and mug (which Kowalski brought for him) in there and of course Private kept his Luna corn stuff in there as well. Rico had no need to keep anything in the chest, since his belly was his own personal back pack. The other room was Nigel's and it consisted of four chests and a king sized bed, well the penguin equal there of anyway.

The fifth room of the house was a bathroom and since we all know what a bathroom looks like lets move on, shall we?  
>One night Private Ash came in and locked the door, shivering ever so slightly from the cold. He had been out tending to the garden, which was slowly dying day by day as the season changed. He was trying his best to keep it alive, but even he could see it was getting the life energy sucked out of it.<br>Nigel walked over to him and smiled, patting him on the back. "Cold, my boy?" He questioned.  
>"Just a tad." Private Ash answered.<br>"Go into the living room, the fires going. Warm yourself up."  
>"But what about dinner?"<br>"I'll take care of it."  
>Private Ash nodded and walked slowly into the next room, the living room. In the very few seconds it took for his feet to move him from room to room, Private Ashs mind raced. He was so happy to have what felt like his entire family here, in one place. He had missed his team a lot, he couldn't deny it. Having his uncle and what felt like his true family, as he spent more of his life span with The Team then he had with Uncle Nigel, all in the same place (in what felt like his dream house) well, it just sounded to good to be true.<br>He walked into the living room, where Skipper, Kowalski and Rico were all leaning over the table. At first Private Ash thought they were playing cards, but then he realized they were hanging over something that looked like blueprints. Wait, not blueprints, no.  
>"What are you looking at?" Private Ash asked curiously, sitting on the recliner closest to the fire. The heat sizzled him in the inside as well as the outside.<br>Skipper looked up at him and nodded, a smile pulling at the edges of his beak. "Trying to find out any hints that Hans must have given, saying his Plan B-''

''Plan C, actually." Kowalski corrected.  
>"Right. Plan C. We haven't found anything yet." This was something they did whenever the house was empty or during the time when The Brits were in the garden so they wouldn't be distracted.<br>Suddenly, Nigel burst into the living room with worry scribbled all over his face.  
>"What is it, Uncle Nigel?!" Private Ash cried jumping slightly like the others.<br>"We have a problem!" he answered  
>"What is it?" Kowalski and Skipper questioned at the same time. Skipper got up and moved next to Nigel, who was still looking a bit shaken up.<br>"I just called my boss to see if Ash was coming on my next mission, since he hadn't given us an all clear yet . . . He didn't answer!"  
>Skipper rolled his eyes: "He was out. There. Done."<br>He began to turn around when the older penguin grabbed him by the shoulders and turned around him to face him again. "You don't GET it, Skipper. This man is a military strategist. He picks up whenever his soldiers call, no matter what's going on. No ones ever NOT been picked up by him before. We've gotta suspect the worst here." Everyone exchanged glances. They all knew what was happening. Even Private Ash, but none of them wanted to say it.  
>Finally, Kowalski whispered: "I think we have cracked Plan C.''<p>

Knowing that Nigel was the top agent and that meant that his boss was The Commander of the entire operation, from Private Ash, the others weren't surprised that Nigel would freak out that his agency was now compromised, but they didn't think he'd suddenly have a full blown panic attack and start breathing onto a paper bag.

''Wow!'' said Skipper, Kowalski and Rico with big eyes.

''Never seen him like this before.'' said Private Ash ''Course Penguin MI6 has never been compromised before either.''

''That's starting to make me a bit nervous.'' said Kowalski scared that Nigel might pass out.

''Yeah, how do we stop that?'' asked Skipper

Private Ash perked up with an idea: ''I have it!'' He walked over to his Uncle, cocked his wing back and slapped him so hard that the shock of it caused him to land on his back side. Private Ash then shouted in a rather commanding voice: ''Get a hold on yourself man!'' Nigel stared up at him amazed, as did the others behind him. He had never slapped anyone like that before!

''Took care of that, Skipper style!'' said Kowalski wide eyed.

''Young Soldiers grow up so fast!'' said Skipper looking a little misty.

Nigel shook off the shock and grinned at Skipper like the others: ''Thanks my boy, I needed that!'' Private Ash then offered his wing to help him up.

''Yes you did.'' said Private Ash grinning at him.

''OK now that that's done, where do you think Hans would be?'' asked Nigel

''He contacted us from what looked like an abandoned warehouse, that would be how we knew to come. Do you know where something like that would be? You know your way around here.'' said Kowalski as promptly as ever.

''There are a few, but they are a bit spread out.'' said Nigel He then went to go get a map of the city from one of the chests in his room. Kowalski let him barrow a pencil and he marked them out for them. One of them wasn't all that far from Penguin MI6 and another one wasn't very far from Hyde Park. Skipper decided that those were the two most likely for him to be and Nigel agreed with him.

''OK I think this is the best thing to do, two of us go to the one near my HQ and two of us should go to the one near Hyde Park. One of us stays here and sends word that we have been compromised to the rest of the agency.'' said Nigel after a moment of thinking. Since Nigel was a special agent and they were in London he technically out ranked Skipper. He was fine with it. Said spy turned to Private Ash.

''Yeah, yeah. Just don't be gone to late or no dinner for the lot of you! And be careful!'' said Private Ash in a comically mother like tone, knowing from the second Nigel said it that he was to stay behind. He didn't really mind, they would get it done faster with Nigel there anyway. The others laughed with him.

Since Kowalski knew his way to Hyde Park, having been there once, he and Rico volunteered to check out that warehouse. Which meant Nigel and Skipper were to take care of the one near Penguin MI6. They moved out at once leaving Private Ash alone in the now locked cottage. He went down a cleverly hidden, very double-o-seven, elevator to the secret communications room that Nigel had. He had showed this to him on his second day and was told that it was only for emergencies. His example actually being Penguin MI6 becoming compromised. He had then laughed at the very idea.

''This is Agent Ash! We have a situation! Penguin MI6 has been compromised! I repeat: Penguin MI6 has been compromised!'' he said into a microphone that was attached to a very special (Kowalski envy worthy) computer that could over ride every communicator of the agency to get urgent messages out. It could also be tuned, so to speak, for certain ones only, but that's not how it was set right now. It being set for everyone.

He was very unnerved to not get any message asking for more Intel from the other agents. He was half way through repeating his message again when he looked closer at the screen to see an icon that said that he had no signal. ''Signals jammed? Oh, that's not good! Hans must know Uncle Nigel better then I thought! Hm . . . '' The young penguin didn't get to think on this for very long as he suddenly heard a lot of noise coming from upstairs: ''Looks like HQ isn't the only place that's going to be compromised tonight!'' Without turning he tried to find a place to hide in the little room, but wasn't doing so good as he heard the elevator coming down. There was only one other who knew about said little room beside Private Ash and Nigel and that was The Commander himself . . .

Private Ash spun around to face the elevator, which he only expected the worst from. He gasped when he saw The Commander standing there, surveying the room. His eyes fell around Private Ash and his wings seemed to clench.  
>"Commander!" Private Ash raced up to him, dropping the earpiece as he ran. "We thought you had been kidnapped!" He cried, spreading his wings out in front of him.<br>"I am fine. You, however, will not be." He said in a seemingly metallic voice.  
>Private Ash surveyed him. Something seemed different, not quite right. Promptly, he asked in a timid way: "Um . . . Is something wrong, Sir?" Just then, The Commander snapped his wings up, clenching Private Ash hard around the neck. The boy sputtered and coughed "What-?!" He gasped for breath and realized the man was being controlled. That explained the voice. "Stop . . . please . . . " He coughed as black spots danced across his vision and he felt a certain sleepiness over coming him that he had only felt once before, in one of the worst battles he was ever in. He had gotten hit hard and almost didn't come back. He snapped out of the half remembered memory and scraped his wings on The Commanders, trying to pry his grasp away. It was no use. While possessed, this man seemed to have the strength of ten men. Either that or Private Ash was becoming a softy that couldn't budge a pebble. He slowly gave up, the feeling of unconsciousness taking over.<p>

The Commander threw him up in the air and caught him in one wing, not being careful at all. He was acting like he was handling his most hated china figure, not a living thing. Just then, the elevator hummed to life. The Commander panicked. He knew his arch enemy was coming down and he wasn't sure he could take him on and handle the boy, as in get him out. He threw Private Ash behind some boxes, causing a loud "CRASH" and jumped behind the boxes as well.  
>The elevator door opened and Nigel's voice rang out: "-Shouldn't be down here. He should have been done. I'm getting nervous now.'' Skipper was with him of course. Their trip out had been quick thanks to short cuts there and back and uneventful. ''Private Ash?!" Came Skipper and Nigel's call in unison. The young agent groaned softly in his 'sleep', Nigel heard it. "What was that?" He cried, looking around.<br>The Commander shook his head and tried to get a grasp of where he was, but he knew that Hans had him under his control. He shook it off long enough to look around and down at the boy. Then it over took again, that ray being stronger then he thought. He grabbed the young agent around the waist, lifting him over his head. He knew if he stayed he would get caught. If he ran and got to the elevator then it wouldn't matter if they found him, he would be gone.  
>He sped out from behind the boxes and launched the boy into the elevator. He hit the ground with a loud ''BANG'' causing Skipper and Nigel to spin around. To their horror, the elevator door was closing. The Commander stood there with Private Ash slouched against the wall, obviously unconscious.<p>

"Bye bye." The man waved as the door closed and the elevator shot upwards. "No!" Both Nigel and Skipper cried at once and launched themselves towards the elevator, but they were to late. It was already halfway up and it would keep going, drop them off, then come back down to them. By the time they got up there they would be long gone.

''OK, We need to recall Kowalski and Rico, so we can go after The Commander to save him! Pronto!'' said Skipper all in one breath.

Nigel was already at the communication computer: ''Blast! We can't! The signals being jammed! Most likely that was the reason that kept him down here. If he had, had more room he may have been able to escape!''

''Fine, we will leave a note to the other two telling them what happened so they can back us up later. We don't have time to go and get them.'' said Skipper

''Agreed, but we don't know where we are going!'' said Nigel rubbing his head like he had a headache though he didn't.

''My guess is they would have to be hold up somewhere reasonably close by. Whats the next closest warehouse? We can start there.'' said Skipper

Nigel nodded, but still seemed bothered by something, well other then his nephew being captured. Skipper picked up on it right away as they went into the elevator. Where Nigel answered Skippers questioning look: ''I have never known Hans to be this clever and sneaky.''

''Well, he has spent time with Dr. Blowhole. Wait-what?!'' said Skipper as the elevator doors opened to the cottages living room.

''Yeah, your not the only one whose had to deal with Hans, trust me.'' said Nigel with a bit of an awkward grin. Skipper tilted his head at him as he bent to consult his map that was still on the table with its marked out warehouses. The others weren't all that close, but then he saw an old apartment building that was near Baker Street. A warehouse it was not, but local businesses had permission from the owner to store a small amount of stuff there when they needed to. It was in a bit of disrepair making some walls look very much like the ones in small warehouses. Nigel knew about it because he had to use it as cover on a mission not to long before he went to New York. ''If he can be sneaky, then so can we!'' said Nigel pointing the building out to Skipper.

''Baker Street huh?'' asked Skipper ''Your not going to don your Sherlock Holmes outfit again are you?''

Nigel snorted: ''I thought it would set the mood.''

Skipper looked up from the map and saw that he was already in it, his face went into his wing: ''Shitaki mushrooms, your fast!''

After scribbling a quick note to Rico and Kowalski that told them what happened and where they were checking for Hans the two moved out and yes Nigel was still in the Sherlock Holmes outfit.

''Just know that if you call me Watson just once, I will slap you!'' said Skipper grinning though Nigel knew he would actually do it. Also The Spy thought that was fair enough.

''Rodger that Skipper.'' Nigel said also grinning.

~Meanwhile: Hans Baker Street Adjacent Base

Private Ash slowly came to in a very secure metal cage, he groaned rubbing his aching head. ''Did someone get the license plate number of that truck that hit me?''

''Really? That's the best line you could come up with?''

''Hans?!'' said Private Ash He got to his feet quickly and tried to hit him through the cage.

Hans leaned back just far enough for him to miss. ''Just as peppy as ever huh Private? Or do you prefer I call you Agent Ash?'' The young penguins eyes got big. ''See I needed you here to one weaken Skipper and two as bait for that uncle of yours, since I couldn't catch him in that ally.''

''You want revenge on my uncle?!'' Private Ash asked confused. ''But you don't even know each other!''

''Oh don't we?!'' said Hans with a condescending smirk while spinning an old key to The Commanders office on his wingtip.

___**Flashback**___

It was still when the little penguin now mostly known as Private (who had a British accent because he had heard Nigel while he was still in his egg) was still covered in the silver/blue downy feathers of a hatchling. After the penguins that would become Team Skipper met and separated from the rest of their colony by rescuing Privates egg, though they weren't overly bothered by it, Nigel had pulled some strings so they could get trained in what they could do best and for a bit were separated for that for a while. Though they were little penguin prodigies so it didn't last to long, also they were still able to communicate often with each other. Private had ended up going to Nigels so he could train him personally, but sadly that never happened. As Nigel was a young and busy agent working for Penguin MI6 and moving up the ranks splendidly along with his younger partner, a puffin that went by Hans. At the start he could only speak German, which was the reason that Nigel had volunteered to be his partner. He was fluent in German and agreed to also teach him English. This he did at his cottage, back then in the country and bit of a commute to headquarters.

Nigel liked it like that seeing as he had his young nephew there with him and he didn't want him to be in danger. The further away the house was the less likely it was to be compromised in Nigels mind.

Hans seemed to like to try to teach the little baby German for some reason. Nigel thought it was funny and would say: ''Hes a penguin and hes going to be an English one weather you like it or not!'' with a laugh. Hans would just shrug at him grinning.

''How come you haven't named the little guy yet?'' Hans asked once on their way back to HQ after a mission. They needed to get de-briefed.

''Its a penguin tradition that you name the little ones when they molt off their silver/blue baby feathers that's why.'' Nigel answered a bit thrown by the out of no where question. ''Why?''

Hans only shrugged, but he looked to be thinking. Nigel figured it was name suggestions and left it at that, though he couldn't be entirely sure as Hans was a hard one to read sometimes. Nigel always thought that he at least should be able to read him as his partner, but he figured it was that he was a penguin and Hans was a puffin and didn't really think much of it. After all everything was going just fine.

One day the two got a huge surprise, they were called in front of The Commander himself for their first undercover mission! They were both even issued special keys to get into his office. They would be infiltrating a raising underground agency called The Rouge. It was made up of all kinds of animals from birds, flightless and other wise, to dolphins and possibly even humans. That was their plan at some point anyway. Their more pressing interest at the moment though was recruitment or obtaining those who could make good soldiers in the future.

''Are you telling me that they may be kidnapping young ones to train themselves?!'' asked Nigel very unsettled by this. ''Sir!'' he then quickly added as he had spoken out of turn.

The Commander understood how Nigel was feeling, as he was feeling the same way himself, he like most of the agency knew about his young nephew living with him as he often spoke of The young ones super cute antics and had himself joked that the little one was going to be the penguin destined to weaponize cuteness! Or at the very least have cute be his secret weapon. No one wanted anything to happen to the little one.

Over the course of this highly classified and time consuming missions motions Nigel had to keep a bit more distance from his cottage then he liked because he was more scared for his nephew then he was for himself should he and Hans be found out as they had successfully became trusted 'members' of The Rouge. The deeper in they got the riskier it got, as one would expect. There was always someone there with him though and Nigel talked to him as much as he could, usually from HQ. He just loved his helium sounding young accented voice.

Nigel thought it would get easier when their assignment from The Rouge was to become spies on Penguin MI6. Nigel thought it was funny and made the joke of: ''Wow, spying on ourselves! That's going to be the hardest thing I'm ever going to have to do! I do hope that I don't find that I have any unsavory habits, right Hans?''

Hans grinned at him, but that was it.

''Hey are you feeling OK? You have been kind distant and quite today.'' said Nigel

''Yeah, I'm fine. I think that this mission is starting to ware on me a bit.'' Hans answered

''That makes sense.'' Nigel then patted him on the back as they made their way to the place they were sharing until the mission was over. ''Hey I'm thinking of visiting my nephew in the next few days. Want to come? I'll even help you try to teach him German if you want.'' said Nigel trying to make his partner feel better.

Hans laughed: ''What happened to him being English weather I like it or not?''

Nigel grinned and said ''I'm English and I know German and way to use my own quirky joke against me.'' He then clapped for Hans, who laughed this time.

''I'd love to go, but The Commander wanted me to train in air fighting since I'm one of the few in the agency who can.'' Hans replied Despite the name not all agents were penguins, just most of them.

''That makes sense, you got to work on you fish combat more too, I beat you way to much. I thought that when I taught it to you, you'd practice more so you could kick my butt. I was wrong I guess.'' Nigel shrugged just exuding cocky swagger. He mentioned that because Hans had gone over to their fish cooler to get them both some fish to be cooked in some way.

''Oh really? On guard!'' Hans then shouted throwing Nigel a frozen snapper. He caught it then watched Hans draw a herring like it was a sword. The two grinned at each other from across the room. Then they jumped into action, fish scales started flying.

After their tied bout ended and they were eating their former weapons Hans posed a sudden question: ''Nigel, what do think you would be doing if you weren't in Penguin MI6?''

''I don't know. This is the only thing I ever wanted to do. Why?''

Hans only shrugged.

In the coming days things started happening very fast. The Rouge was pressuring Nigel and Hans for information, it was a 'get as much as you can as fast as you can or face punishment' kind of deal, Hans was getting even more difficult to read then he was before and it was getting harder for Nigel to be able to contact his nephew. ''Good thing I made arrangements to go and see him soon.'' Nigel had thought.

How right he was, for on the day of the visit Nigel had to save his nephew from a raid that occurred on the cottage before he got there. Somehow Rouge agents had found out about Nigels nephew and tried to take him, savagely injuring the agents watching over him.

Even for a cute fluffy ball of feathers, the would be kidnappers saw that their little target had a lot of fighting potential in him as he injured the leader of the groups leg enough that he wouldn't be fighting for the next three days. One of his troops took that as a personal insult and choked the little guy into submission after slamming him to the floor. That's when Nigel arrived. Using his own skill he beat the intruders tail feathers all over the place. Pure rage of what he saw happening to his nephew helping him to do it. It was only after the battle was over that the unsettling realization that most of the ones he fought were puffins dawned on him.

''Nah, couldn't be! Has to be just happenstance.'' Nigel said to himself as he took up one of his fellow agents communicators and called in what happened, telling the medical team where to meet him as he had incoming wounded. They met up rather quickly as Nigel had a nitro charged ATV hidden nearby just in case something like this ever happened. Though he had always kept it in working order he hoped that he would never have to use it. All the injured were taken to Penguin MI6 medical center and were treated. Nigels nephew being the closest call out of all of them, but he would recover.

''How did you meet up with the pick up so fast?'' the doctor penguin asked when Nigel was allowed into the little penguins room. He was then told about the ATV. ''A nitro charged ATV? Nigel how do you bloody do things like that?!''

''I'm just that good!'' Nigel grinned at him. ''So?''

''Oh, hes going to be just fine, so don't worry.'' said the doctor

''Oh good!'' Nigel sagged with relief. ''How though?''

''In part because of your nitro powered transport and in part because he inherited your families never say die spirit and hidden fighting skills. Hes got the oddly big for his age, going to have to grow into muscles in his the legs and wings your family gets at this age to prove it. But you already knew that.''

''No I didn't and not everyone gets-'' Nigel began

''Wait, don't you remember? A bit before your undercover mission got under way you brought the little guy in for a check up. You got called away for a moment, but Hans had come in. I told him what I found and as he picked the little guy up to go he said that he'd tell you as soon as he could.'' said the doctor looking a bit worried for Nigel.

''That puffin!'' said Nigel in growling voice. ''Oh, he told someone alright, but it wasn't me.'' He went to leave the room as he didn't want the young one to see him seething should he wake up, but the doctor stopped him.

''You know that your going to have to relocate him now that they are after him.'' said the doctor

This statement snapped him out of his anger for the moment, he replied in a very subdued voice: ''Yeah I know. Sooner then I was hoping. Hes only seen my cover and I didn't get to train him. I bet he suspects though hes a sharp little one.'' It was then said little one woke up and Nigel sat with him for a while.

Once the little penguin was cleared to leave the medical center Nigel took him to The London Zoo, painfully noticing how very close he was to molting his baby feathers off. The arrangements had been made that morning, it mostly consisted of computer hacking by the HQ techies.

''What is this place?'' his nephew asked

''Its called The London Zoo. A lot of animals live here, including penguins. Your going to have to stay here for a while.'' said Nigel

''Are you going to stay too?''

''Sorry dear boy, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be busy for a while, but I'll visit as soon as I can. Also your going to be reunited with your 'brothers' soon so you wont miss me to much. OK?'' Nigel answered grinning down at him.

''OK.'' the little guy was excited that he was going to get to see Skipper and the others again.

With a parting hug Nigel quickly left as to not be seen there by the wrong people and to take care of his traitor of a former partner Hans. He later found out that Hans thought that Nigel was on the same page as he was and that he was going to reveal the knowledge about his nephew after the three of them were in Denmark, which is where The Rouge Main Headquarters was. So he viewed Nigels taking down of the London Branch as the betrayal, not his own actions. This caused Hans to flee to Denmark and Nigel to get a promotion.

Skipper later took down the remaining portion of The Rouge in Denmark on a super secret solo mission. Hans later turning on him too resulted in him becoming Public Enemy Number One there. Hans of course relocated to The US much later, though Nigel never knew as he wasn't allowed to ever go after Hans after he escaped London.

_ **End Flashback**_

''Wow, leaving Private must have been the hardest thing you ever had to do.'' said Skipper standing in front of a sitting and looking at the ground Nigel. He had told him the whole story because Skipper had called him on it because he was acting so weird (well for him) back at the cottage. Technically Nigel could have called him on insubordination, but he didn't have the heart.

Nigel shook his head: ''That wasn't it actually. Watching him get transferred from an unseen location was the hardest thing I ever had to do even though I was the one who had arranged it. It was just after his first molt too.''

''Watching him get-?!''

''I knew he'd be safer if he was far away from me.'' said Nigel still staring at the ground.

''But I thought you told him that you were going to come back for him, but that something had come up.'' said Skipper confused.

''That I did, The Rouge tried to make a resurgence here even after you took out what was in Denmark. It was just to risky. It was I who later made it so you were reunited again in New York, but you were supposed to come here but you were still very young and I wanted to keep all of you secret from them. Though he ended up in the desert for a bit where he met the badgers that made him fear the species and became known as Mr. Tux for a short time because of a slight paper work mix up, but that was fixed quickly enough.'' Nigel had been informed of the latter which amused him greatly. He had been under secret supervision for his safety until he was in the zoo and some thought even after. It was Skipper who started calling him Private after he molted, no one quite knew the reason why that was the name he picked.

''Ah, that makes sense.'' Skipper said with a sympathetic look when Nigel finely looked up at him. He then offered his wing to help him up. Nigel grinned and took it, then he shook himself a bit and was back to his version of normal. As they started walking the rain that caused them to stop let up. Skipper was a bit cold, but was determined not to show it lest the warm in his Sherlock Holmes outfit Nigel pull out another one. ''You said that you've never known Hans to be so clever before. What did you mean?''

''Hans was the type to just barrel into a mission without any thought at all. He was worse even then you in fact.'' said Nigel grinning at Skipper, who shot him a look, but then they both snorted.

''Well that story dose explain why Private can kick Kowalskis tail feathers in a fight.'' said Skipper grinning. ''And why he is almost scary good with the use of a kendo stick and the evasion of one blindfolded or not. Plus he can beat me at holding his breath wings down!''

''Well that and you did a brilliant job training him, I couldn't have down it better.'' said Nigel also grinning. Skipper looked a bit embarrassed by the high praise and shrugged at Nigel still grinning.

~Meanwhile: Hans Baker Street Adjacent Base

Private just stared at Hans as the story came to an end. He just couldn't believe it! Hans knew everything save for Nigels arrangements. ''So that's why I couldn't place a battle where I was choked and almost didn't wake up. With all the black and white around I assumed I was with the others!'' he thought but he said ''But if you knew it was me how come you didn't go after me when you took our HQ in New York when you first showed yourself to Skipper?'' He felt like an idiot for not recognizing him when he showed up in New York that first time, but then again he had been so young at the time.

''Oh that's easy, I didn't know it was you until Nigel visited you that time, but I couldn't do much about it at the time. Now however I can.'' Hans then got a very evil grin on his face that nearly made Private gasp.

~Meanwhile: In Rout To Hans

''Not to be a whiner, but we are almost there right? The rain is starting to get on my nerves.'' said Skipper

Nigel snorted: ''A Brit you are not!''

''Nope, but a commando that knows that something's up I am. I think I hear someone coming.'' said Skipper The two then ducked into some small bushes outside the house they were near as Nigel heard it too.

''Whoever it is, it sounds like they are dragging something.'' Nigel whispered Because he was used to the rain in London he detected that before Skipper did. It would have been the other way around if they were in New York. They were surprised when they saw that it was The Commander dragging a bag that was almost to big for him.

''Wait, how is he behind us?'' Skipper whispered Nigel jumped a bit then held Skippers beak shut as the one they were watching stopped and looked around. Good thing for them it started to down pour again so whatever The Commander heard he dismissed and moved on dragging his cargo. The two hidden penguins sagged with relief. Nigel let Skipper go.

''Sorry, but he has Kung Fu hearing.'' he was whispering just in case.

''Ah, but how could he be behind us though?'' Skipper asked again while rubbing his chin area with his wing.

''Its not the how, its the reason why that's making my feathers raise.'' said Nigel as his feathers did just that of their own accord.

Skipper had to nod at that as he was getting nervous too. He pulled the grappling gun they had been taking turns carrying since they had left New York out of his feathers. They had it since the day before they left as they had used it to put the paper that gave the Intel on Alices hidden fish stash back to where they had found it after having the chimps read it to them. They hadn't gone to get said fish as without Private it just didn't feel right. He had forgotten he had it until just now.

''Ah, traveling by roof top! Good show!'' said Nigel grinning.

Skipper grinned back: ''I'm glad you approve!'' He tossed the tool to Nigel then grabbing him by his ankles as he flew upwards. It would have been a bit harder the other way around as Skipper was much smaller then Nigel. They followed The Commander from the high vantage point until they lost sight of him as he went into the building they were all headed to.

''Great I got the sky light open!'' said Nigel turning to Skipper who was watching the door that The Commander went into the building from over the ledge of the roof. ''Skipper?''

''I thought I saw the bag hes dragging move for a second there.'' said Skipper ''Huh, anyway lets go and stay frosty!'' Nigel nodded at him. They used the grappling gun in reverse to get to the floor. Skipper tilted his head as he stowed the tool back into his feathers. ''Why are you looking at me like that?''

''Are you carrying a knife?'' he asked pointing at it. It, sheath and all, was kind of falling out of his feathers. ''Isn't that a little dark for you?''

''Well, I don't normally, but Rico gave it to me on my last birthday so . . . and it was a just in case kind of thing.'' Skipper felt a bit awkward as he re-secured the object. ''But I don't know if its dark, Rico used to carry a switchblade on him. He pulled it on that hippie Alex once for questioning my authority. Boy did it make Young Private Ash nervous.'' They then started walking.

''Hans did something back in New York didn't he?'' Though it was phrased like a question it was said as a statement, but it wasn't in a jerky tone. ''Hans usually doesn't get to you this bad. Ash told me about your other bouts with him.''

Skipper gave him a side glance: ''You are good.'' He told him of the events back in New York and the fact that Skipper had been in a slump since then was very apparent. Nigel didn't comment on that though as he now understood Skippers attitude.

''Hopefully you won't take this the wrong way, but you remind me of myself when I was a young agent.'' said Nigel trying to make Skipper feel a bit better.

Skipper grinned and playfully retorted with: ''Great dose that mean I'm going to be a total weirdo and dress in funny costumes too?''

Nigel laughed and said ''Nice try, but you already do. Ash told me about Mirror Time!''

''Touche, but I don't leave the base in them. So there!'' Skipper shot back thinking ''Of course he told him that. Hes wearing a Sherlock Holmes outfit!'' He was grinning though.

''Give it time.'' Nigel said grinning at him as they reached the door of the room they were in.

That's when they shifted into mission mode. They were just about to check the hall for anything suspicious when they heard Private Ash from the floor below scream: ''Hans no!''

The two looked at each other with shock on their faces: ''Private Ash!'' They then belly slid down the hall looking around constantly for any traps. There was only one on their floor, lasers. Like the anti-intruder trap back in Team Skippers base only much stronger. They flipped, skidded and jumped their way through with only one hit between them. Nigel lost his Sherlock Holmes hat and some of the feathers on his head that sometimes stood up. It wasn't enough to make him look weird though.

''I was thinking about getting a little off the top anyway.'' said Nigel with a grin as he put the last smoky bit out.

''That hat made your outfit though. Curse you Hans!'' said Skipper being dramatic.

Nigel snorted: ''Not to worry, I have five more just like it at home!''

As the two started towards the stairs to head down onto Private Ashs floor Skipper grinning thinking: ''Of course he dose! What was I thinking?''

They made it down the staircase using the banister as they didn't trust the stairs, not only because Hans was about, but they also didn't look to good anyway. Skipper and Nigel then slowly went down the hall cautiously looking into rooms as they went. All were empty and it was so quite that it made Nigel jump when he looked into the right room and a caged Private Ash looked up at him.

''There you are lad!'' said Nigel his face brightening. Skipper was there from checking the room opposite in about a second. Instead of looking happy that they were there he looked nervous.

''Are there any traps in there?''

''No but-'' Characteristically, they didn't let him finish and belly slid into the room somewhat near the cage.

''Hes not brainwashed or whatever was wrong with The Commander, that's genuine my nephews nerves!'' said Nigel ''You can't fake that!''

''Yeah I was expecting him or The Commander to attack us by now. So whats the hold up?'' asked Skipper

''Its right behind you! Evasive action!'' Private Ash screamed

Nigel quickly looked then grabbed Skipper and dove. If they hadn't then they would have been knocked out by Rico as he swung his bat. ''Well, we now know what was in that bag The Commander had and what Ashs scream was all about.'' He suddenly went at Rico and with one motion disarmed him and threw the bat to Skipper while saying: ''Skipper on your left! Incoming!'' Skipper swung the bat without looking at who he was hitting. It surprised him when he heard Kowalski grunt before he stumbled back fixing his now almost dislocated wing. Nigel kicked Rico then backed up next to Skipper as he was backing up a bit.

''This would usually be the time that I would ask for options, but Kowalski is over there right now.'' said Skipper looking nervous as he pointed at his glaring Options Guy. Nigel blinked, but didn't say anything. ''Boys! Stand down!'' The boys in question glared more and came closer, Rico hacking up his flamethrower and taking aim at the same time.

''Well, that was a bust. Got anything else?'' asked Nigel as they continued to back up.

''Its your turn.'' said Skipper obviously wracking his brain for ideas.

''Split up now!'' said Nigel as Rico fired the flamethrower. The fire missed the two by going in between them.

It hit and melted the lock on Private Ashs cage which he was trying to pick with his wing. Nigel told him a story where he had done that once. Private Ash was fast enough to not get burned, but he grunted in annoyance as he thought he almost had it. ''Now what am I going to do?'' he said as he watched his friends and uncle fight. He didn't get to think on it to long before he jumped back as Skipper who was now fighting with Kowalski, as Uncle Nigel had his wings full of Rico, slammed into the cage.

''Hey I'm the leader of this unit. How is Kowalskis stronger then me?!'' said Skipper as he was loosing his grappling match with the taller penguin. He had lost the bat now and already bruises from Kowalskis assault were starting to show. Nigel had it and was currently using it to defend against Ricos crowbar, he too had some bruises. The flamethrower had been thrown into a corner somewhere.

''Its the ray Hans shot them with. It makes them stronger, but he controls them.'' Private Ash quickly warned.

''Oh good, thought for a second that I was going soft.'' He winked at Private Ash as he said that. Then said ''Sorry Lieutenant!'' and slammed Kowalski into the side of the cage. Kowalski was going to be feeling that one in the AM as he grunted loudly while closing his eyes for a split second.

Something Kowalski had on him went through the bars and landed at Private Ashs feet. He paid it little attention as he noticed that Kowalski was reaching for something that Skipper had tucked into his feathers. Something that would be very bad for him to get in the state of mind, or lack there off, he was in. Good thing they were still close to the cage. ''This could help both Uncle Nigel and Rico!''

Nigel stopped fighting to quickly kick Rico away from him as he ducked for cover as Skippers knife came flying at them to stick in the wall nearby. He looked in the direction and saw that it was Private who threw it. ''I didn't know he could do that!'' he said before he saw that he was pointing at Rico who was staring at his gift to Skipper as he started to look unsteady on his feet like he had gotten hit in the head not in the side. ''That reminder of his and Skippers friendship or brother hood would be the better word must be helping him to fight back against that ray! Hm, maybe there's something to those Luna corns and their friendship jargon!'' The demolitions expert then seemed to be torn between wanting to pound Nigel and not wanting to. The wanting to side seemed to be winning. Rico gave him a pleading type look. Nigel nodded then quickly knocked him out which is what Rico, the real Rico, wanted him to do. ''Rest easy lad this battle is almost done!'' Nigel said to Rico before looking over at Skipper still fighting with Kowalski.

''Good thinking Young Agent Ash!'' Skipper yelled over Kowalskis shoulder grinning. Despite the fact that Skipper was fighting he seemed to still see everything!

He jumped in surprise that Skipper actually called him that and grinned, though it was short lived as Kowalski used his height advantage over Skipper and plastered him against the wall as hard as he could. He held him there until he tied their wings together almost into a knot. It was the wing hold on steroids! Skipper grunted as it actually hurt a little.

''Well done Kowalski, perhaps I trained you guys a little to well.'' said Skipper

''I'm coming Skipper!'' said Nigel as he left Rico and moved in to help him. Suddenly Nigel was tied in a grappling gun cable. ''What in the name of baby bloomers?!''

Skipper just stared at him: ''Even I could never think that one up!'' The two restrained penguins the looked to see where the cable came from. It was The Commander with one of the many spare grappling guns Rico always had in his belly. Then Hans finely walked into view, leaning on the door jam casually.

''That was fun to watch. Tied up, just as you thought you were going to win too.'' he said grinning.

''That puffin!'' said both Nigel and Skipper glaring at him.

''I suggest that you be nice to me or this is going to get ugly.'' said Hans with a pointed look at Private Ash, then the others.

''It already has, you came in here!'' blurted Nigel Skipper snorted and there was the tiniest hint of a grin on Kowalski, also his eyes seemed just a tiny bit less glossy, but the best thing was The Commanders bursting into laughter.

''Good one Nigel!'' he said before he seemed to get shocked by something the others couldn't see and he toppled over backwards out cold.

''Yup, it was about time for The Mind Scrambler to ware off again.'' said Hans looking angry and quickly grabbing the grappling gun to keep the line tight so Nigel couldn't get away. He then threw it over an exposed rafter in the ceiling caught it and put it under both Rico and The Commander so that Nigel was hanging next to Skipper. ''Now I finely have you! The two greatest, strongest, most skilled penguin do-gooders ever! Oh how great do-badies you will be!'' Hans then drew The Mind Scrambler Ray from his feathers.

Nigels eyes got big: ''That's the thing he tried to shoot me with! Its what you have been using to control The Commander and the others isn't it?''

''Well, thank you Detective Obvious!'' said Hans taking note of his former partners outfit. ''And really?''

''What? Its cold out and we are near Baker Street. What do you expect?''

''He maybe weird, but he has a reason for it at the ready.'' Skipper snorted again at the annoyed look on Hans face. Kowalskis grin got a bit bigger.

When Hans saw it, it seemed to drive him over the edge. ''That's it! Its time to get you back for turning on me!'' he shouted

''What?! You turned on me!'' shouted Nigel indigently.

Hans ignored him as he looked at Skipper while raising the ray: ''And its time to get you back for everything you pulled on me, including that three-sixty you pulled when we were BFFs!''

''Wait-what?!'' Nigel asked quickly.

''Hopefully I can explain that one later.'' replied Skipper as they both braced for fighting back against Hans ray.

Then suddenly: ''Skipper pull forward!'' was suddenly yelled by the youngest bird there. He was there right? Skipper didn't see him anywhere. Without any time to think Skipper did just that, as hard as he could. Then out of no where the young cadet was on top of Kowalski and Skipper was free of the wing hold from a combination of his own pulling and Kowalski being forced to the floor backwards by having another penguin land on him. There also must have been surprise in there because said penguin came out of no where! Private Ash then flipped off Kowalski, knocking the wind out of him in the process, to land in front of Skipper and Nigel just as Hans fired, his wings were spread, his feet were planted and his face determined.

''Evasive!'' shouted both Skipper and Nigel, but even if there had been time for him to move he wouldn't have. He grunted as the beam hit him and stumbled back into Skipper, who caught him so he wouldn't hit the floor. Private Ashs face was all scrunched up and twitching like he was in pain.

''Well . . . this is awkward. I mean how and where did he come from?'' said Hans with huge amazed eyes.

The others ignored him: ''Ash?! Are you OK?!'' said Nigel plainly worried.

''Speak to me man!'' said Skipper shaking him slightly.

No response, not that Hans was surprised: ''Private Ash, I know you can hear me! When you wake up, take Skipper down!'' Hans was now looking annoyingly cocky.

''Skipper, trust me. Tickle Kowalski, he will snap him out of it. I'll get Hans!'' Private Ash quickly whispered barely moving his beak.

Skipper only got a blink in before the young one pushed himself up and drew The Shrink Ray. At the same time Kowalski was getting up, now recovered from before. Skipper quickly hit him, though hard it wasn't hard enough to hurt him, in a place near his left shoulder. It would have been his armpit if he was a human. He hit the floor again in hysterics because that was his tickle spot, when hit just right this happened outside of Kowalskis control. Skipper found it accidentally during a sparing match once and tried to forget about it, good thing he didn't. At the same time Hans had fired The Mind Scrambler at Nigel when he wasn't looking. Private Ash jumped in front of him and fired The Shrink Ray back at him. The two beams met in the middle.

''Oh no! Your not going to beat me again!'' said Hans turning up his rays power. The enemy beam then started to over power that of the Shrink Rays.

''Oh I wouldn't dream of it, because your going to do it for me!'' Private Ash suddenly retorted with an almost evil grin and strange little nod.

''Wha-?'' was all Hans go out as Private Ash then pulled Skippers knife from where it had been sheathed in his feathers. He had kept the sheath from when he got it out of Kowalskis reach and threw it before. He then tossed The Shrink Ray aside and let The Mind Scramblers beam hit the blade and like with the trash can lid several days ago it bounced off to head back to its shooter. This time he couldn't roll out of the way as Rico suddenly had him by his ankles. The beam hit Hans and he went down landing on top of Rico. The power was turned up so high that it knocked Hans out.

''Well, that worked out nicely!'' said Private Ash grinning as he rubbed his wings together in a 'well that's done' fashion looking a bit cocky. He then let his uncle down.

''Yes, but what was that exactly?'' asked Skipper wide eyed.

''That's elementary my friend!'' said Nigel in a perky tone as the cable fell to the floor.

''So you know?'' asked Skipper raising an non-eyebrow at him.

''Actually I don't have a clue what just happened. I just had to say that while wearing this outfit!'' Nigel then blurted. Kowalski, who had just gotten up, nearly fell down again he started laughing so hard, as were the rest.

''Your missing the hat though.'' said Private Ash when he could breath again. Rico then hacked one up that was just like the other one and put it on Nigels head. ''Of course, should have seen that one coming!'' Everyone grinned again. ''OK so this is how it went. After I threw Skippers knife I used this!'' He picked up the item in question from the floor.

''My Shrinky Shrink-er Ray?'' said Kowalski

''Why call it that?'' asked Nigel while Skipper gave him a weird look.

Kowalski shrugged: ''Its fun to say.''

''Guess we all have some quirks.'' said Nigel grinning.

Private Ash snorted: ''I used it to escape the cage after the lock got melted. Kowalski dropped it while he was fighting with Skipper. Then while everyone was distracted I shrank the knife too, remembering what my uncle said about what happened with the trash can lid. Then I shrunk myself down even more, to the size of a flee, climbed up onto the side of Skippers head and waited for the right time.''

''So that's how you seemed to appear out of no where!'' said Kowalski

''But how did you know that making Kowalski laugh involuntarily would snap him out of Hans control?'' asked Skipper

''Ah, now that really is elementary Skipper!'' said Private Ash grinning. Rico and Kowalski laughed into their wings. Skipper grinned and looked at Nigel.

''To much alone time with me?'' he said trying not to laugh.

''Oh yeah!'' said everyone laughing.

''I saw how he was acting when you guys were busting Hans tail feathers and I caused The Commander to snap out of it about twenty minutes early before he got sent to get Kowalski and Rico earlier. Good thing Hans hadn't paid to much attention to what time it was and just thought the ray had worn off. I didn't know that being knocked out works too, which was what worked in Ricos case.'' Private Ash looked over at Hans to make sure he wasn't coming to yet.

''OK then, one last question, how were you not effected by that ray and don't use the Sherlock Holmes line this time.'' said Skipper grinning.

Private Ash snorted: ''Well I wasn't entirely unaffected. I think some energy from The Shrinky Shrink-er Ray, hmm that is fun to say, dissipated it enough to let me fight it off. It nearly had me for a second there.''

''Well, that and your stronger then you think.'' said Skipper

''Hans probably already told you about why you can fight so well at such a young age.'' said Nigel After getting a nod from his nephew he then said ''Heck, your stronger then I was at your age. I didn't get the semi-secret family traits. Its kind of funny really, when I first started training I had to work twice as hard as the rest as I was the weakest one in the whole class.''

''You could have fooled me, because look at you now! The top agent of Penguin MI6!'' said The Commander He came to when Nigel started talking. Private Ash helped him up with his free wing. Nigel grinned at him.

''You can fully explain later.'' said Kowalski pointing. Hans was now coming to.

When he did fully he was surrounded by a lot of angry penguins: ''Uh Kowalski? Statistics on you guys not unleashing Rico on me if I move?''

''Negative fifty.'' said Kowalski a second later while Rico popped up grinning evilly.

''OK then, statistics on me getting time off for good behavior?''

''About a hundred percent -(Hans smiled)- that its not gonna happen!'' said Kowalski with his own evil grin.

Hans face fell: ''Well at least its better then negative fifty!''

They used The Shrink Ray on him and put him into the cage that he kept Private in, then returned to full size. After that they called for a pick up once Kowalski un-jammed the Penguin MI6 signal. Once all Hans traps were disabled, under Kowalskis direction as he was forced to make them, so the pick up crew could get in they went and sat on top of Hans cage.

''Hey I have a question.'' said Private Ash

''Yeah?'' asked The Commander

''I hope its OK to ask, but that penguin who got kidnapped, what ever happened to him? I feel kind of bad for not thinking to ask until now.'' said Private Ash

''Oh him, we got him back. It was during one of those top secret meetings. He contacted us after escaping and we guided him to a pick up point.'' said Nigel ''Why?''

''Was just wondering. Whats going to happen with him?''

''Once he gets cleared by the medical center he said that hes coming back though I'm going to order some R and R for him first.'' said The Commander ''That was one heck of a mission!'' The Commander then held his own beak shut as what he just said implied that he was supposed to get caught, not that Nigel knew when he brought Private Ash to London.

''You knew about that when you came and uh for the lack of a better word picked Agent Ash up, right?'' said Skipper thinking that Nigel was being sneaky to teach him and the other two a lesson.

''I did not, but it didn't surprise me as I suspected it. Still was a bit paranoid just in case though. Anyway lesson about not jumping at someone like you did at Private Ash learned?'' said Nigel grinning. This sneaky plan wasn't made until he knew why his nephew was at the docks.

The three nodded.

''And I also wanted to see what my nephew could do so my motives weren't entirely unselfish.'' Nigel chuckled.

''And I sure learned a lot from you and all our missions!'' said Private Ash

''I'm glad my boy!'' Nigel patted his shoulder.

The three New York penguins all grinned as that was good to hear, they were also fighting to ask the question of 'So dose that mean he can come back to New York?' in case he didn't want to or the other agents return didn't matter and he was a fully fledged (pun not intended) Penguin MI6 agent by now and wouldn't be allowed to. They knew that their was a trail period, but they didn't know how long it was and they were vague on the rest of the rules of Nigels agency. They also didn't want to influence his choice in the matter should he have one which they hoped he did.

Skipper jumped a tiny bit when he saw that The Commander seemed to know what he was thinking. He could tell by the look he was giving him just before he spoke: ''Well, its going to be tough figuring out where everyone is going to go as we also have some new rookies from our training academy flooding in soon and I know that you are at your best when your working with someone you know Agent Ash. Now I know that there will always be a place for you on Team Skipper if you want to head out with them because sadly its going to be hard keeping you and your uncle a team, to help break in the newbies when it comes to you going on missions together. That being said you can stay on here if you like.''

''You guys have a training academy? Nice!'' said Kowalski

''Looks like you have a choice to make nephew.'' said Nigel

Private Ash sighed: ''I guess so, I really liked all of us being together though.''

''Yeah, that was fun. I liked kicking Skippers tail feathers at cards!'' said Nigel

As Skipper made a face at him Kowalski pulled out his options clipboard then said ''Actually by my calculations your both tied.''

''You were keeping score Kowalski? Nicely played.'' said Skipper grinning.

''Well it looks like the next time we are all together I'm going to have to fix that, huh?'' Nigel said in playful challenge.

''You wish! I'm going to be the one to fix it!'' Skipper retorted

''Oh we shall see!'' said Nigel getting into a stare down with him.

''Wow, its like Skipper is looking at an older British version of himself.'' said Kowalski

''Weird!'' said Rico

The Commander and Private Ash grinned. Not to long after this the pick up they called for arrived. Hans was taken into custody and Nigel and the others went back to the cottage for a nice long sleep after being cleared by the medical center.

On the way back to Nigels Private Ashs head was swimming. He could stay here after Skipper and the others left and continue on to being a full agent, but not be able to work missions together with his uncle anymore? That would be weirder for him then any of his uncles quirks. The Commander had been right about the way he works, not that he had told him that. Man, he was good! Now he knew where Nigel got it from! On the other wing he could just go back to New York with The Team. Not only would he be working with people he knew, but he would be with his friends again. Besides The Commander he hadn't made any real friends. He didn't have time because all the missions he had done and the training he had. There were plenty of agents that he was friendly with, but it wasn't the same. Not that anyone was at fault for it, it was just the timing.

Once he had hashed it all out in his head, by that time they were all climbing into their bunks, he couldn't help thinking that he had liked it best when they were all together, but he knew he couldn't ask Skipper and the guys to stay here or ask Uncle Nigel to come with them. He liked being a spy to much. He decided that he would make his final choice in the AM. So he cuddled up with his Luna corn and went to sleep. The next morning he walked into the living room to see that everyone was there almost done eating breakfast.

''Morning Ash!'' said Skipper before taking a swig of fish coffee. ''We saved you some of Ricos secret recipe sushi!''

''Ah yum! Missed having that. Not that my Uncle is a bad cook of course.'' he said a bit surprised that Skipper had called him only Ash just then. He went and got it then sat at the table with the others.

''Nigel said he was going to show us London today now that Hans is finely behind bars before our early morning flight home tomorrow.'' said Kowalski ''What do you think? You wanna wanna?''

''That sounds fun, sure.'' he replied grinning at Kowalskis perkiness. He forgot Kowalski could get so perky and wondered what other details about him and his other friends he had accidentally forgotten.

''Someone had sugar this morning.'' Rico joked pointing at Kowalski.

''Well he tried to. This morning I found him cleaning up the kitchen. He had been trying to recreate the ever rarer Peanut Butter Winky! Apparently he added to much baking soda to the mix and it blew up in his face and everywhere else.'' said Nigel grinning.

''Hey the kitchen is not your lab you know, its not blast proof man!'' said Skipper lightly punching Kowalski in the shoulder as he joked.

''Oh ha ha! But I think I cracked it with Nigels help. So there! See he had been trying to also.'' said Kowalski grinning, making Nigel rub the back of his head.

''I was going to send you some homemade ones for your birthday in New York when I cracked it.'' he then said to Private Ash. The oven then dinged as their joint attempt was done baking.

''Oh good timing!'' said Private Ash grinning as he finished his share of breakfast. They were retrieved by Rico and after letting them cool for a bit they all took one and bit into them, followed by practically melting as they were perfect.

''Another big win for teamwork!'' said Skipper looking a little misty.

''Everything alright then Skipper?'' asked Nigel grinning.

''Huh? Yeah, just remembering the time when Ash had his first one of these. It was during The Annual Zoo Snooze. We ended up wrestling over it, but he won. I still haven't figured out how he manged to toss me into the water.'' Skipper laughed

''Awe Skipper is getting nostalgic!'' said Nigel grinning. He wasn't teasing him though.

Since it was rare for Skipper to get like that Private Ash didn't have the heart to tell them that it was actually at Zoo Snooze-it, as it was known at The London Zoo, where he had his first one. Thanks to Nigel who knew how to get them to the London Zoos vending machine using his spy mojo, though Private Ash didn't know that was why they ended up becoming a hit in London. He had fought so hard for the one from Skipper because the snack cake had reminded him of his uncle who had visited him that night. It had been the last time he saw him before he was transferred.

''Hes kinda been getting like that a lot lately.'' said Kowalski without really thinking about it. Skipper was surprised that Kowalski had noticed and jumped a bit. ''Oh, should I have not said that?'' asked Kowalski looking a little nervous.

Skipper rubbed the back of his head looking a bit awkward: ''Nah its fine because I wasn't the only one.'' He then shrugged grinning at the other two. They didn't the same thing he had.

''My leaving stirred up that in them?'' Private Ash thought feeling warm and fuzzy. These three were not the nostalgic type. He decided not to comment on it though and said ''So about that sight seeing trip, I propose we start at the palace, Uncle Nigel knows his way around so we can get the best tour ever.''

''Brilliant idea boy!'' said Nigel grinning. ''What do you say guys?'' They liked the sound of that. After the palace, which took about half the day, they went back to the cottage for lunch. Then left to see the rest of London which was grand, to use Nigels word. The sight seeing trip ended at the big Ferris Wheel at sunset. It was awesome seeing London from that high up at that time of day.

''Skipper?'' said Private Ash quite suddenly.

''Hm?''

''Why have you started calling me Ash instead of your mash up of Private Ash?''

''Its a good strong name, not overtly tough, but strong. Kind of like you really.'' Skipper said in a fatherly tone with a slight shrug.

''Thanks Skipper.'' Private Ash grinned

Skipper grinned back then said ''Also, I like the way Agent Ash just rolls!'' in his normal tone of voice. Not wanting the moment to get to sappy. Classic Skipper am I right?

Nigel snorted: ''Now your starting to sound like me! Creepy!'' Rico then popped up and made a ghost noise. The others laughed.

''Yeah, but I need to work on the accent, my British imitation is a bit rusty.'' Skipper then said.

''Don't I know it.'' said Private Ash in a fake undertone making the others laugh again. Skipper only shrugged trying to look dignified as times when he was teasing Private Ash using his rusty accent came to mind.

''So-hey since tonight is our last night why don't you reg-ail us with some of you and Nigels mission stories.'' said Kowalski as The Ferris Wheel started to bring them back down. The three New Yorkers pretty much thought that Ash would be sticking with Nigel.

Ash looked over at Kowalski then passed him at his uncle who nodded as he guessed the gist of what he was going to say: ''Well, I guess I could tell you one or two tonight, but that's it because I'll need to save some for the fight back to New York won't I?''

''Say what?!'' said Rico surprised.

Kowalskis eyes got big as Skipper said ''You picked us over-? Don't you think you should think about this a bit?''

''Silly Skipper, I've been thinking it over all day and I think that I was wrong in leaving you, at least in a certain way. I guess you can call me Brash Ash!'' he replied giggling at his brothers reactions, though he hoped that they thought it was his comment he was laughing about.

''Aren't you going to say something?'' Skipper asked Nigel.

''Its quite alright with me if he heads back to New York. Penguins MI6 is going to be loosing one heck of an agent, but we'll get by. Plus someone has to help you keep that Ring tail in line.'' he replied The others grinned at him for coming up with that so fast. ''All quirkiness aside I am going to miss him though.'' Nigel patted his nephew fondly.

''We got our fourth back!'' said Kowalski putting his wings in the air.

''Yay!'' said Rico doing the same.

The Young One turned from them to Skipper expecting him to shout 'Up high boys!', instead he he looked a little misty and hugged him suddenly. He jumped slightly then hugged him back.

''Awe!'' said Rico Kowalski then gave him an 'After you' signal. Rico hugged the two from one side and Kowalski from the other side. Nigel grinned at the sight then joined in himself.

Then just before it was their turn to get off the Ferris Wheel Nigel hit Kowalskis tickle spot and The Options Guy hit the floor laughing.

''I just had to do that!'' said Nigel grinning with a shrug. He jumped a bit when his nephew got an almost evil grin on his face as he looked at the other two.

''Converge!'' he then shouted pointing at Nigel. He and the other two then tackled Nigel and tickled him into submission! Of course after avenging Kowalski, Rico and Private moved onto Skipper for the fun of it before trying to out tickle each other. Neither one really won, but it was fun to try.

''Well that was an interesting way to end the day.'' said Kowalski shaking his head in an amused way.

''Just embrace the quirkiness Kowalski. The sooner you do that the better off you'll be!'' said Nigel patting him on the shoulder grinning. They snorted at that.

''That my friends should be on a t-shirt!'' said Skipper

''I know right?!'' said Nigel ''Its right up there with never underestimating the limitless destructive power of giraffes!'' Most of the others snorted at that, but Rico.

He tilted his head and said ''Say what?''

''Surly you remember what it was like in Africa during the giraffe season of love when the males were slamming their horns into each other making loud cracking sounds and your poor friend Melmen had to hide. My nephew told me about it.'' Rico nodded at Nigel as he recalled that just before the spies MI6 communicator went off. In code it said he had a meeting he needed to go to. ''Well a top spies work is never done. I'll meet you guys back at the cottage and make dinner should I get back early.'' The now whole again Team Skipper all nodded before splitting up with Nigel.

''Oh and Skipper?'' the youngest said

''Ash?'' the older replied

''Its just plain old Private again.''

''Rodger that Young Private.'' said Skipper patting him on the shoulder. The other two grinned as they started walking.

The Top Spy got back with plenty of time to make the others dinner and in quite a good mood too. He entered his cottage to see The Team watching Shirtless Ninja Action Theater, though it was during a commercial break. He paused in announcing his arrival when he heard his nephew say: ''Skipper, I have a question for you, but if you don't want to answer you don't have to.''

''Shoot.'' said Skipper grinning.

''OK.'' he said grinning. ''When you were younger, before you and the others saved my egg, what were you like? I don't know why I'm wondering, but you know.'' He then shrugged

Skipper grinned at the question before answering, much to the other twos surprise: ''I'm guessing you also mean before I became the great paranoid leader I am now. -(Private nodded grinning while holding in a laugh as he called himself paranoid)- Well, with the exception of your love of unicorns and knitting, as I prefer monster trucks and macho disguises, I was actually a lot like you. I didn't like monster trucks until I was in Kung Fu training, but I always liked macho outfits, since I was a hatchling in fact. I made them out of snow.''

''That explains a lot.'' grunted Rico grinning. Everyone looked at him like 'Really?' ''What? All but hes thinking it!'' he then said pointing at Skipper. No one would say it, but Rico was right.

Still in the doorway unnoticed Nigel stood thinking: ''Good Agent he maybe, but Private is definitely a better match for Skippers Team then mine.'' He grinned though.

''So what about you Kowalski?'' Private asked

''Well as Skipper would probably say I never had a chance. I was hatched to parents who were very curious about they way the world works. The perfect hatching ground, pun intended for a scientist, so I wasn't all that different for how I am now. Though I have loosened up a lot since then.'' Kowalski answered grinning.

''Nicely said.'' Skipper grinned.

It was then that Nigel shut the door to let them know he was home. ''Evening gents!'' he said as he went to the kitchen, he pretended that he hadn't been listening to the conversation. The others waved at him as their movie came back on. About twenty minutes later he came out with Privates favorite fish casserole. ''Dinner is served boys!'' What he was carrying smelled so good to them they were at the table comically fast. ''Guess you guys are hungry.'' said Nigel with a laugh. Then they all dug in and it was good!

''So what was that meeting about? Or can't you tell us?'' said Skipper patting a bulging belly.

''Well I can't go into detail of course, but I'm starting a new job tomorrow so I'm afraid that I won't be able to see you guys off in the AM.''

''Well that's a bit disappointing, but whatever it is that your up to I wish you luck on it!'' said Private Nigel smiled at him.

The next morning saw all the penguins getting up early so four of them could hop a plane back to The Big Apple: ''OK everyone got everything and drained their bladders? Its going to be a long ride.'' said Skipper when he was over by the door.

''Theirs that paternal streak again.'' thought Nigel grinning. Then he stepped forward: ''Hey don't forget this! The Peanut Butter Winky recipe! I got it all up here so I don't need the picture version.'' He pointed at his own head as he spoke, then gave the paper with the recipe written in tiny pictures to Private.

''Thanks and for everything else too.'' Private said giving him a quick hug. ''Promise you'll visit soon?''

''Count on it my boy.'' He patted him before he went and stood over by Skipper and the others who were all about to leave. Before they left Skipper, Kowalski and Rico saluted Nigel and he saluted back.

When they got back to the zoo, after a mission story filled plane ride, they were greeted by their human friend Athena, she looked a bit annoyed: ''About time you guys got back, you don't know how hard it was covering for you guys. The freakishly good fish powered decoys need maintenance-'' She stopped talking when she saw Private was with them. ''You got him back?! Yay!'' She grabbed him and hugged him. Private grinned hugging her back. She picked up the others and carried them to the fence of their habitat. ''So how was London? Its was boring here so I hope you guys saw some action.''

''Rainy but action packed!'' said Skipper ''Oh and thanks for holding down the fort for us.''

''No problem.'' she said watching them flip onto their island.

''Oh really? You seemed pretty annoyed a second ago.'' said Kowalski

''Well, I was also worried about you. Don't want anything to happen to my penguins after all.'' she said affectionately. ''But speaking of holding down the fort I think someone snuck into it! The fish dish is moved!'' The four spun around to see that she was right.

''We just get back and we have an intruder?! Lets move boys!'' said Skipper The four of them then dove down the hatch landing in a combat formation. ''Alright interloper you have just found your self in a world of- GA?''

''How did he bloody do that?'' shouted Kowalski as the other two just stared in amazement.

''Hey chaps! Did you know that the Concord gets you here in half the time?'' said Nigel standing in the middle of a party ready HQ.

''What are you doing here? I thought you said that you had a mission!'' said Private

''What I said was I had a job, but its a mission too. Turns out The Rouge has been working out of Canada all these years and now they are moving into the U.S.! Well, we can't have that. So I'm here for a new under cover mission since I know the most about them that may take months I daresay to do, but its going to be useful to the good of penguin kind at the same time: Penguin Commando Trainer Of The Bronx Zoo. Its fairly close by so I'll be able to visit here often. It takes precedence over the newbies according to The Commander.'' Nigel explained ''Course, I'm going to need a macho disguise. Know where I can find one around here?'' He then winked at Skipper. The four just stared at him in amazement.

Then Skipper slapped himself out of it: ''But why then could you not just come back with us and tell us all that?!''

''Well someone had to set up this Welcome Home Party for Private, Athena and Tony were to busy with their volunteer zoo work.'' answered Nigel Private then hugged his uncle, happy that they were all going to be together, sure it wasn't exactly what they had in London, but it was good enough.

Athena,who was the one who let Nigel into the base after he answered questions only penguin personal would know, then opened the big fish as she was laying on her belly in the tunnel with Marlene, they both counted down from five for some reason, then they looked around when nothing happened.

''What was that for?'' asked Nigel

''We were expecting Julian to appear out of know where and say -(Julian voice intimation)- 'Did I just hear someone say party?' like he normally dose.'' said Marlene with a shrug. Of course once she said that him and the other two lemurs did just that right behind Nigel, making him jump, loose his balance and fall down lightly. Private didn't react to much, just mostly looked at them as he was used to it by now for the most part.

''Ah, there he is.'' said Athena in a casual voice leaning her head on her hand. Marlene laughed.

''How did he bloody do that? I mean none of us even saw him!'' said Nigel still on the floor.

''Even Kowalski hasn't fully figured that out yet.'' said Private grinning and helping his uncle back up. ''Speaking of mystery's, how did you know about Athena and Tony?''

''Like I said before nephew 'a top spies work is never done'.'' he answered grinning.

''Your just that good, huh?'' said Skipper grinning as others started to arrive to say welcome home to Private.''

''Yes, yes I am.'' Nigel answered with Skipper like swagger.

**The End**

_Authors Note__: Well there you have it my first normal written co-write! Didn't think I had it in me! Well, actually I didn't The Abandon Angle wanted to write it in this format, not that I minded. Well I hope you enjoyed all the plot twists and surprising comic moments, not to mention the make it canon with the penguins movie updates! (I hope my co-writer doesn't mind) Have fun with reviewing, except if your mean. If you are just keep moving! I had fun working with Nigel. It annoys me that hes in more stories then episodes. Some of which I wrote myself! (Hee Hee) That being said I wasn't the one who first called him quirky, Nickelodeon did in their description on the episode hes in. I just had a little fun with it. Anyway we have come to the disclaimer that I put down here because I can: We don't own The Penguins Of Madagascar. Dream Works/Nickelodeon dose.~_

_~Over & Out~ _


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